MéRIDA (MEXICO)
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) [Toronto, Canada]
February 2, 2006
By CBC News
A Catholic priest in an eastern New Brunswick community has been charged with assault after allegedly hitting a young girl during catechism class.
Father Raoul Leblanc, 61, is accused of striking the 11-year-old last Nov. 24 at the rectory in Richibucto.
Mike Johnson’s son was in the same catechism class as the young girl who says she was assaulted.
Johnson says Father Leblanc pulled both his son and the girl of the class. The boy was put in a separate room. The little girl joined him a few minutes later, and was crying, he said. “My son was holding her and she cried for 35 or 30 minutes.”
Johnson went to see the priest the next day, and was told the children had been separated because they were being disruptive. He says Leblanc became furious for even being asked about the incident. “With me, he lost it. His eyes got this big, spitting, pointing,” he said.
Both Leblanc and church officials refused to comment on the case.
RCMP Sgt. David Mazerolle say the priest will be in court later this month to answer to the charge. “He’s an individual of trust, an authority, and it caused so much of a commotion in the community, but apart from that, we don’t feel he’s a threat to the community.”