CANADA
VICE News
By Rachel Browne on Jun 21, 2017
In an attempt to protect young and vulnerable parishioners from abuse, the Catholic Church of Montreal will start fingerprinting all priests before they work with children.
New rules announced this week will require priests to provide digital fingerprints, and expands on a pilot project called “Responsible Pastoral Ministry” launched within 10 churches in the city last year that imposed screening processes for those working and volunteering within the diocese. All churches in the jurisdiction will have to follow these rules, which prohibits an adult from being alone with children, by 2020.
“If someone would like to do something wrong or abuse anyone, knowing there’s all this filtering, they won’t ask to become volunteers in our church,” Bertrand Montpetit, a pastor at a church in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, told reporters.
It’s all a response to allegations of rampant sexual abuse of children at the hands of Catholic priests in Montreal — and around the world.
In March, a 55-year-old Montreal priest was charged with multiple accounts of sexual assault and touching of three children. Father Brian Boucher was very involved with activities at the church, including assisting youth during confirmations and first communions. The Archdiocese of Montreal denounced any violence within the church.
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