Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse against the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, New England Province On September 11, 2012, Judge John P. Connor, Jr. of the Norfolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts ruled that a complaint filed against clerics of the New England Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart could be amended to include a count of “breach of fiduciary duty.” As of October 2012, the case is moving toward trial. The plaintiff is a retired police officer from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He alleges that in 1955 and 1956, as a 14-year-old attending the Sacred Heart Boarding School in Sharon MA, he was fondled and raped orally and anally by Brother Regis, S.C. , a.k.a. Raymond Richard. After the boy revealed the abuse in confession to the school’s chaplain, he was summoned to meet with the headmaster, Brother Jean-Rosaire, S.C., who warned him that if he told anyone else about the abuse, he would not be believed and would go to hell. Brother Regis is the 12th publicly accused member of the New England Province, which at its peak in the early 1970’s had only 302 members and today has 65. Despite recent cases, its large number of alleged child molesters, and a 2003 class action lawsuit that accused it of having a “lax and tolerant attitude” toward sexual abuse, the NE Province largely has escaped the scrutiny of journalists and prosecutors. Every MA, NH, and RI school staffed by accused clerics A reason the Brothers have eluded attention is that like many religious orders, they own facilities in several states and countries, and members are rotated frequently across jurisdictions. The NE Province appears to have circulated nearly all of its members, including those accused of child sexual abuse, among most or all of its facilities. Every one of its schools in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island was staffed at times by alleged or admitted abusers. [See chart.] In a December 2002 deposition by NH plaintiff attorney Peter Hutchins, Brother Guy Beaulieu S.C. said that he had molested children at all but one of his assignments. Brother Roger Argencourt was transferred to the order’s schools in Zambia in 1978 after telling a spiritual counselor that he had assaulted boys at Bishop Guertin. When he died suddenly in September 2002, RI law enforcement was preparing to charge him with several counts of first- and second-degree child molestation that occurred in the 1980s when the cleric was at Mt. St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket. Abuser says supervisors concealed his crime In his December 2002 deposition, Beaulieu also said that he had informed supervisors in 1970 that he had molested a 15-year-old student that year at the Sacred Heart Prep School in Pascoag, Rhode Island. The supervisors were the assistant headmaster, Brother Leo Labbe S.C., and the provincial superior, Brother Ronald Dupuis S.C. According to Beaulieu, the order did nothing to discipline or monitor him. Instead he was allowed to transfer to Bishop Guertin High School, where he worked as a golf coach and math teacher for 20 years. During that time, by his own count, he molested 15 to 20 boys at Bishop Guertin and several more at Camp Fatima, a summer camp owned by the diocese of Manchester. Religious aliases Compounding the difficulty of holding religious orders accountable is the fact that many victims do not know their abusers’ real names. Before 1970, religious order clerics, like nuns, often were known only by chosen first names. In November 2002, attorney Hutchins used old yearbooks and handwriting samples to convince the order’s lawyer that Brother Leo Labbe was the “Brother Gerald” accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy in 1960 at Sacred Heart Boarding School in Andover MA. The order’s provincial from 1985 to 1991, and headmaster of Bishop Guertin when the allegation surfaced, Labbe said he was innocent but put himself on administrative leave. In his supervisory roles, Labbe kept other accused Brothers in ministry and did not report allegations. See Labbe’s role in handling allegations against McEnany, Beaulieu, and Argencourt. Class-action suit On February 12, 2003, three men abused by Beaulieu at Bishop Guertin filed a class-action suit on behalf of all NH residents who were abused by members of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Denying they knew of Beaulieu’s misconduct in 1970, order officials filed a motion in May 2003 asserting that the victims were responsible for their own abuse. “The injuries suffered by (each) plaintiff, if any, were caused by his own failure to exercise reasonable care,” they wrote. In September 2003, Hillsborough NH Superior Court Judge William Groff struck down the class-action suit. Attorney Hutchins, representing at least 15 alleged victims of the Brothers, announced that his clients would move forward separately. By June 2004, the order had settled child sexual abuse complaints against Brothers Guy Beaulieu, Roger Argencourt, Leon Cyr, Alfred Laflamme, and Leo Labbe. Abuse in the order’s boarding schools No further allegations against the province were reported publicly until August 12, 2009, when WBUR-FM radio, the NPR affiliate in Boston, aired interviews with two men who described their sexual abuse at the order’s schools in Andover MA and Sharon MA, both of which closed in the early 1970s. The online transcript of the piece generated dozens of emotional comments from others who had attended the schools. In March 2011, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian filed the complaint that is now moving forward to trial, alleging abuse by Brother Regis at Sacred Heart Boarding School in Sharon. And on April 11, 2012, Garabedian announced that the Brothers of the Sacred Heart had recently settled a case alleging child sexual abuse by Brother Peter Claver, who had run Sacred Heart Boarding School in Andover in the 1950s and early 1960s. Growth and decline of the New England Province The Institute of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart is a worldwide religious organization recognized by the Pope and headquartered in Rome, with 1,018 members in more than 30 countries. Since its founding in Lyon France in 1821 by a diocesan priest named Andre Coindre, its primary mission has been to teach. In the late 1800s, it sent Brothers to New England to teach children of French-Canadian migrant workers in the mill towns of Manchester NH and Woonsocket RI. From 1909 to 1943, the Brothers founded seven schools in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. In 1945, the order’s officials in Rome created the New England province, carving it from the province of Ste. Hyacinthe in Quebec. At its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the NE Province had more than 300 clerics and ran 17 high schools, three elementary schools, two novitiates, six community houses, and six “houses of study.” [See table.] In 1973, its first elected provincial, Brother Ronald Dupuis, S.C., rapidly reduced the province’s operations. According to the Official Catholic Directory, its membership dropped within a year from 302 to 148, and it closed all three of its elementary schools and 11 of its high schools. [See table.] The order’s two other US provinces, the New York Province and New Orleans Province, saw similarly dramatic drops in membership. In its own historical accounts, the order attributes this shrinkage to “dramatic social changes and the changes in the Church.” Today the New England Province is based in Pascoag RI and operates two schools: Mt. St. Charles Academy, a junior-senior coed school with x students in Woonsocket RI, and Bishop Guertin High School , now also coed, with x girls and boys, in Nashua NH. Argencourt, Bro. Roger Bro. Odillon   Admitted to abusing two boys at Bishop Guertin HS in Nashua NH. He reportedly raped and molested one of the boys as many as 40 times, once in front of another teacher. Not charged because statutes of limitations had expired. Authorities in RI were preparing to file charges regarding alleged abuse at Mount Saint Charles Academy when Argencourt died on 9/23/02. • Associated Press 3.27.02 • Associated Press 3.28.02 • Union Leader 3.29.02 • Associated Press 4.24.02 • Union Leader 4.25.02 • The Telegraph (Nashua, NH) 9.25.02 • Providence Journal Bulletin 9.25.02 • Associated Press 9.25.02 • Associated Press 10.1.02 • Providence Journal Bulletin 10.7.02 • Associated Press 2.12.03 • NH AG Report 3.3.03 • Documents from NH AG Report • Manchester Union Leader 3.4.03 • Union Leader 4.2.03 • Lowell Sun 9.3.03 • Associated Press 11.19.03 Beaulieu, Bro. Guy   Admitted to molesting at least 20 students over 20-year period at Bishop Guertin High School and at Camp Fatima in NH. Also admitted to abusing a 15-year-old boy at Sacred Heart Prep School in Harrisville RI in 1971. Matter was reported at the time to then-principal Leo Labbe – since himself accused of child rape – and then-Provincial Superior Ronald Dupuis. Transferred to retirement home in RI in 1990. • Portland Press Herald 11.13.97 • Associated Press 3.26.02 • Union Leader 3.29.02 • Union Leader 5.29.02 • Union Leader 5.30.02 • Associated Press 7.29.02 • Union Leader 7.30.02 • Nashua Telegraph 11.27.02 • Foster's Daily Democrat (AP) 2.6.03 • Associated Press 2.12.03 • Documents from NH AG Report 3.3.03 • Union Leader 3.4.03 • Nashua Telegraph 3.14.03 • Portsmouth Herald (AP) 5.17.03 • TheChamplainChannel.com 7.3.03 • Union Leader 7.9.03 • Union Leader 8.30.03 • Union Leader 10.2.03 • Union Leader 2.5.04 • Union Leader 6.3.04 • NH AG Audit Records 3.26.09 Claver, Bro. Peter   Claver took final vows in 1923. He worked as teacher and administrator in schools of the Sacred Heart brothers in New England and Canada. Became superior of Sacred Heart School in Andover, MA in 1970. He died April, 1975. In 4/12, attorney Mitchell Garabedian announced settlement of at least one claim of abuse regarding Claver. Abuse took place at a school in Rhode Island but also worked at Catholic schools in Massachusetts • Boston Globe 4.21.75 • Boston Globe 4.11.12 • BishopAccountability.org 4.11.12 • Coshocton Tribune 4.11.12 • MetroWest Daily News 4.12.12 • The Patch 4.12.12 • BA.org Assignment Record Cyr, Bro. Leon   Accused by two men of sexually abusing them as students at Bishop Guertin HS in the 1980s. Cyr presumably is still active as order’s archivist. • Lowell Sun 9.3.03 • Manchester Union Leader 10.2.03 Labbe, Bro. Leo Bro. Gerald   Labbe has been principal of the order’s RI and NH schools. Man filed civil suit 11/02 alleging that Labbe, then head of Bishop Guertin High School in NH, forced him to perform oral sex on Labbe at Sacred Heart Academy in Andover, MA 1960-1961 when the man was 11. Suit says that Labbe, then known as Br. Gerald, abused him on several occasions. Labbe denied accusations but placed himself on administrative leave. Case settled 5/04. Labbe also accused of not reporting numerous abusers at Bishop Guertin. At last report, Labbe was director of order’s St. John’s Residence in Woonsocket RI. • Associated Press 3.28.02 • Union Leader 11.22.02 • Union Leader 11.23.02 • Nashua Telegraph 11.23.02 • Associated Press 2.12.03 • Union Leader 8.30.03 • Manchester Union Leader 10.2.03 • Union Leader 6.3.04 • Boston Globe 11.20.11 LaFlamme, Bro. Albert Diocese and the order settled civil suit 5/04 with one man who alleged that he had been abused by LaFlamme 40 or more times between 1943 and 1949 at the now closed St. Louis school in Nashua. LaFlamme is deceased. • Union Leader 6.3.04 McEnany, Bro. Shawn   Pleaded guilty in 1988 to unlawful sexual contact with 15 yr old female student at Lewiston ME High School. Received 2 one-year suspended sentences and 1-year probation. Went on to work for school operated by Brothers of the Sacred Heart in NH. Order deemed it acceptable since it was a boys' school and McEnany was accused of abusing a girl. Placed on leave 1997 and charged with violating a state law that bars sex offenders from working with children and for failing to register. Charges dropped 1999. Moved to RI. Named in Maine AG Report. • Portland Press Herald 11.13.97 • Union Leader 11.13.97 • Portland Press Herald (AP) 11.14.97 • Union Leader 11.17.97 • Portland Press Herald 11.20.97 • Portland Press Herald (AP) 12.21.97 • Union Leader 1.9.98 • Portland Press Herald (AP) 1.10.98 • Associated Press 1.29.98 • Portland Press Herald 2.20.99 • Portland Press Herald 6.15.99 • Associated Press 3.26.02 • Associated Press 5.27.03 • Maine AG Report 2.24.04, page 4 Morel, Bro. Albert J. Bro. Adrian   Teacher at Bishop Guertin High School. A former student alleged that in 1981 (after he graduated) he went to Morel for counseling because of sexual problem and Morel told him to unzip his pants. Morel then proceded to fondle him. He left but next time he saw Morel, says that Morel huged him and told him that he loved him. The man then wrote a letter to the head brother at Bishop Guertin. • Telegraph 4.14.81 • Obituary 3.17.98 • Investigator's Memo 3.8.02 • NH AG Report 3.3.03 [p. 22] Richard, Bro. Raymond Bro. Regis Man filed civil suit 3/11 alleging that Br. Regis sexually abused him for several months when he was a 7th grader at Sacred Heart Boarding School in Sharon, MA in the 1950s. Accuser told a priest during confession at the school and was then confronted by Bro. Regis, and the school director. When the boy returned from Easter break, Regis was gone. Suit announced 11/11. School has been closed for many years. Bro. Regis is dead. • Lebanon Daily News 11.22.11 • Boston Channel 11.22.11 • ABC 6 11.22.11 • Motion to Amend Granted 9.11.12 • Amended Complaint 9.12 Thibault, Bro. Armand Bro. Raymond   Sacred Heart Brother for 34 yrs before being ordained as Marist. Personnel file released 12/02. 1993 criminal trial in ME for 1992 sexual contact with child under 14 (re 3 boys) and child endangerment (providing beer to kids). Found not guilty on sex charge and pleaded no contest to the other. Received treatment then reassigned to Boston under restrictions. Retired. All privileges removed 1/02. • Summary by Marist Superior 1.8.95 • Letter to Marist Provincial 3.3.95 • Boston Herald 12.17.02 • Boston Globe 12.17.02 • Maine AG Report 2.24.04, page 4 • Southcoast Today 8.15.12 • Tributes.com 8.15.12

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