Canadian bishop accused of sexually abusing child

This 2 October 2009 video is about Canadian Roman Catholic bishop Lahey, charged for child pornography.

From CBC in Canada:

Former bishop Lahey accused of abuse

Former Mount Cashel resident claims Raymond Lahey abused him in 1980s

Last Updated: Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 4:32 PM NT

A former Catholic bishop already facing child pornography charges is being accused in a civil lawsuit of sexual abuse by a former resident of the infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, CBC News has learned.

In a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Todd Boland alleges he was abused by Raymond Lahey, the former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia who resigned last September.

Lahey was a priest in Newfoundland and Labrador before moving to Nova Scotia. According to the claim, Boland was abused several times over four years in the early 1980s while he was at Mount Cashel. The accusations include simulated anal intercourse and fondling.

Boland’s lawyer, Greg Stack, described in an interview with CBC News what Boland alleges happened.

“At the time, Monsignor Lahey would take him for an outing, as members of the clergy sometimes did, and that’s when the abuse allegedly occurred,” said Stack.

Over the following two decades, Lahey rose through the ranks in the Roman Catholic Church, eventually becoming a bishop.

In September, police in Ottawa found pornographic images of boys on Lahey’s laptop.

Another man, who was a Mount Cashel resident in the 1950s, said he’s not surprised by the new allegations.

James Bryne said that when one charge is laid, victims start speaking up.

“They have to make a lot of hard and difficult choices about coming forward, and in a lot of cases they may have families, young kids and it may take years,” said Byrne.

SUPREME Court former justice Marie Deschamps warned on Thursday that the Canadian armed forces perpetuate a sexualised military culture hostile to women and gay people and tolerant of harassment and assault: here.