Pope to rule on cleric dismissal

CANADA
Sudbury Star

By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Basilian Fathers of Toronto are awaiting a reply from Pope Benedict about whether the Holy Father will grant a former Sudbury cleric his request to be dismissed from the priesthood and from his religious order.

Rev. William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall was released from Kingston Penitentiary in early October after serving part of a two-year sentence. Marshall was convicted in June 2011 in Windsor of 17 counts of sexual assault against 16 children and one woman in Toronto, Windsor, Cambridge and Sudbury. Six of the victims are from Sudbury.

Marshall, 89, ser ved as a priest and educator for 21 years in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. He taught at St. Charles College from 1961-70 during which time at least two parents complained to school and Basilian officials that their sons were sexually abused by Marshall.

At the time, St. Charles was an all-boys school, although it is co-ed today.

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