Woman in Her 40s Says Romantic Relationship with Priest Started at Age 15 or 16

By Neil Bowen
London Free Press
October 18, 2013

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/10/18/woman-in-her-40s-says-romantic-relationship-with-priest-started-at-age-15-or-16

In her early 20s a Catholic priest's former lover accused him of preferring young teenage girls after learning she was pregnant, a Superior Court trial heard Friday.

The trial of former priest Gabriele DelBianco, 57, on 16 sexual offences involving four teenage girls during the 1980s, finished its third day Friday with testimony from a woman in her 40s.

During her early 20s, the woman said DelBianco fathered a child with her, but their romantic relationship had started when she was 15 or 16 and when he was a 29-year-old priest

He fondled her in his car, but they did not have sex until she was 20, she said.

During repeated encounters in the car, DelBianco had told her he could hug her all day, she said, adding she felt like the luckiest person because he had chosen her.

By the time she was 21, she and DelBianco had become a secret couple, she said, noting she stayed at his church residence three to five times weekly.

DelBianco talked of leaving the priesthood at the time, she said, and she dreamed of a legitimate relationship with him.

But DelBianco told her people in high places would not allow the relationship and he started talking about being involved with the CIA, she said.

Near the time she became pregnant she was concerned about the time he was spending alone with two girls in Grades 8 or 9, she said, noting the actions mirrored the beginning of her relationship with DelBianco.

Two other woman have testified their teenage sexual encounters with DelBianco began when they spent time alone with him.

The woman who testified Friday said she confronted DelBianco and he vehemently denied improper involvement with the girls. Nevertheless, she ended the relationship.

In the mid-1990s the woman ended all contact with DelBianco through a legal agreement for a one-time $10,000 child-support payment.

DelBianco decided to leave the priesthood in 1996.

During this time, the woman started getting packages from DelBianco containing handwritten letters and odd items, like a hot water bottle and a can of tomato soup.

The letters stated DelBianco's friends in the CIA could make her children disappear and she became extremely protective of them.

She had children with her husband, whom she had married during a break in her relationship with DelBianco.

Another of the women who testified said DelBianco had told her he was a CIA spy.

Despite the fear for her children, the woman did not tell police about the letters because DelBianco was a highly revered priest and anyone Catholic could not be trusted, she said. She agreed with defence lawyer Andrew Bradie that not all police officers are Catholic.

During Bradie's cross-examination, the woman said she had destroyed the letters after keeping them for several years.

The woman rejected Bradie's suggestion the letters are figments of her imagination.

The trial is expected to continue for several days next week with testimony from a fourth woman.

Contact: neil.bowen@sunmedia.ca