Montreal priest convicted of sex crimes stands trial for new set of allegations

CBC News
January 21, 2019

https://bit.ly/2MmSyN9

Fr. Brian Boucher, 57, seen here at the Montreal courthouse last year during a separate trial, is set to appear in court again Monday.

Brian Boucher, a Roman Catholic priest who has worked at 10 churches in Montreal over the last two decades, is set to stand trial Monday for sex-related offences against two minors.

The trial, before judge alone, is expected to get underway at the Montreal courthouse.

Boucher was found guilty earlier this month of sexually harassing and assaulting a former altar boy more than a decade ago.  The sentencing hearing in that case has been set for March 25.

One of the alleged victims in the case now before the court testified as a "similar fact witness" at Boucher's first trial.

Boucher was ordained in Montreal in 1996 and served at English-language parishes throughout the greater Montreal region. He also worked as a chaplain at McGill University and at Lakeshore Hospital in Montreal's West Island.

Although Boucher is still a priest, the Montreal archdiocese removed him from all ministry functions, including saying mass in public or hearing confessions, as soon as he was arraigned.

The archdiocese issued a statement immediately after the Jan. 8 guilty verdict in the first court case, saying it "arouses a gamut of feelings among both parishioners in the pew and Church leadership, including bishops and priests: feelings of shame, revulsion and anger as well as confusion, sadness and compassion."

The statement outlines the steps the archdiocese has taken to deal with abuse complaints and to accompany the complainants in the case of Boucher.

It also promises to implement a "safe-environment policy" throughout the diocese, consistent with national guidelines for the protection of minors issued by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops last fall.