TORONTO (CANADA)
National Post
March 29, 2019
By Douglas Quan
One evening in March 1977, Adam Exner, then bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese in Kamloops, B.C., sought to put a lid on what he saw as a brewing scandal involving allegations that a “playboy” priest was having “inappropriate relationships” with women.
Appearing before parishioners assembled at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church, Exner kept things vague, according to his speaking notes from the time. He told them he had removed Rev. Erlindo Molon from the diocese because of a “personal” and “ongoing” problem that put Molon’s future as a priest at stake.
“In some situations, time and distance are the best remedy,” he wrote.
Some four decades later, a civil action in B.C. Supreme Court has brought fresh scrutiny upon the priest’s behaviour and the church’s response to it. Rosemary Anderson, then a young teacher at the adjoining Catholic elementary school, has sued Molon, alleging that he exploited and sexually assaulted her over several months starting in September 1976.
The lawsuit, filed in December 2016, also names the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Kamloops as a defendant, alleging that Exner, despite being aware of a pattern of alleged sexual misconduct involving Molon, was negligent and failed to adequately protect her and other parishioners.
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