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	Defrock Predator Priests, Victims Tell Bishops Group Appeals for Creation of Public List of Convicted Clergy By Jennifer Green Ottawa Citizen [Canada] October 17, 2006 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=ca88b4ad-2d8b-4078-b431-93e23304b084&k=80318 Cornwall - Victims of clergy sex crimes have called on the Catholic Church to defrock convicted priests, maintain a public list of their names in the Canadian Catholic Directory and better co-ordinate counselling services. They made the appeals at a press briefing in Cornwall yesterday, not far from the Nav Canada Centre where Canada's 80 or so bishops are holding their annual meeting this week. One of the victims brought along a T-shirt printed with a photo of herself as a smiling child of about 10 years old. Beneath the picture, black lettering said: Innocence Betrayed. Carol Mieras, now 40, is a serious-looking woman who is no longer Catholic; in fact, she does not go to church at all. She told reporters about the pain and frustration she felt when nobody would listen to her. Ms. Mieras told her elementary school principal when the abuse occurred, and finally two police forces. When she discussed the situation with her bishop, "I was told, 'you seem to be doing OK, so let's not talk about it'." Earlier this month, Rev. Charles Sylvestre of the London diocese was finally sentenced to three years in prison for attacking 47 people over 30 years. He was first reported in 1954, again in the late 1950s, and in the 1970s, said lawyer Robert Talach, whose firm has represented dozens of sex crime victims. Ms. Mieras said she did not feel any particular satisfaction at the priest's sentencing. "My issue was less with the individual. My issue was always with the church and the other organizations that allowed it to continue." She is adamant that convicted clergy must be defrocked because, as she says, "The priest has a power that is connected to God, so if you defrock the individual, you are taking away that mystical power that, particularly when you are a child, you imagine that individual has." At the Nav Canada Centre, James Weisgerber, archbishop of Winnipeg and co-chairman of a committee that drafted a report on the issue, told reporters it should not be necessary to have a separate list of offenders for priests. "Do we need one for firemen? For teachers?" As for defrocking priests, the archbishop says, that is up to Rome. The issue has been an ongoing problem for the Catholic Church in Canada, and it was already on the bishops' agenda for today. At last year's meeting, the bishops received a report that said: "The sexual abuse of minors is, beyond any doubt, one of the greatest tragedies brought to light over the past 25 years. "In the course of the interviews with victims, as well as in a number of written communications, the suffering, and often dramatic consequences, of sexual abuse were obvious." The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops developed its first position paper on sex abuse in 1992 after the church and the Ontario government agreed to a $40-million compensation package for 1,600 men who were abused as children at St. Joseph's Training School in Alfred, east of Ottawa, and St. John's Training school in Uxbridge, near Toronto. Provincial police later laid more than 200 assault and sex-related charges, which ended in 15 convictions. Although that report, From Pain to Hope, was never adopted as formal policy, many dioceses have used it as a working guideline. Mr. Talach admitted that the press conference was staged to draw attention to the issues, but, he said, private discussions with the church had not produced much. Last year, roadblocks were set up at the entrance of the conference centre to prevent protesters from disrupting the session. Cornwall officials and police have been attempting for years to get to the bottom of sex abuse allegations, many involving the church. The provincial government finally commissioned a public inquiry to look into the situation. Its hearings also resume today.
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