TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CTV News
September 15, 2020
By Bryan Bicknell
London, Ont. – Those taking part in a vigil outside St. Peter’s Basilica in downtown London on Tuesday called on the Catholic Diocese of London to drop its appeal in a decades-long legal battle with a sexual abuse survivor.
“The way that the church is treating me now through litigation is so traumatizing, and it’s much more traumatizing than the actual abuse,” said sexual abuse survivor Irene Deschenes.
Deschenes reached a settlement in 2000 for sexual abuse she suffered as a child in the early 1970s at the hands of the late Father Charles Sylvestre.
Information later came to light that the diocese had received police statements in 1962, alleging the priest had assaulted three girls.
Ontario’s highest court then granted Deschenes the right to sue the church a second time.
“When we settled, they told us they didn’t know about Sylvestre’s proclivities,” said Deschenes. “I had a gut feeling that they must have known because he had been doing it for a long time. But based on that information I did settle with the Catholic church.”
Those taking part in the vigil each took a turn standing in silence for one hour at the walkway to the church. It was a quiet appeal to the church to do what they believe is the right thing.
The action got the attention of passerby Dan Warren, who said the church needs to stop fighting victims of sexual abuse.
“If somebody is protesting a church, like that kind of says something – that something is wrong. And I’m not saying the people in this church specifically. But still, they should take a stand against the people above them. That’s what the problem has always been with them.”
The diocese declined a request from CTV News to comment on the vigil.
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