Stone: Father Carl Stone

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Father Carl Stone

[The following information is  was drawn from information on hand or researched several years and documents entered into evidence at the Cornwall Public Inquiry..  The gaps in entries indicate that I currently have no information on those years.  

 

 27 April 1916: Born in Malone, New York (Diocese of Ogdensburg)   

28 February 1942Father Stone was ordained in Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral by Ottawa Archbishop Alexandre Vachon.    

According to officials with the Diocese of Albany, N.Y. Stone was ordained as a Montfortian priest, meaning he was a priest with the order of priests designated by the initials smm and known alternately as Monfortians, the Company of Mary and DeMontforte priests.   In those days the Canadian and U.S. Montfortians were under one superior –as the order grew the U.S. formed a separate province, sometime in the 50s.   

I have unconfirmed information but from a good source that many years ago the story was that Father Stone got into trouble with young boys as a young priest in the United States and was sent to Canada.  At some point he returned to the USA, got into trouble again and was again sent off to Canada.

It seems then that Father Stone perhaps would have been ‘in trouble’ shortly after ordination and sent to serve in Canadian residential schools.   This could account for the six month gap between his ordination in February and first known assignment at the Kuper Island Residential School commencing September 1942. Was he in the States somewhere immediately after he was ordained, into ‘trouble’ and then sent off to Kuper Island?   It seems possible.

The Record of Priests for the Diocese of Alexandria Cornwall  entered into evidence at the Cornwall Public Inquiry indicates the following sketchy information: 

Sept. 1942 – Sept. 1944:  Kuper Island Indus’School, Kuper Island, B.C.

Sept. 1944 – July 1948: Indian Missionary, Duncan, B.C.

Sept. 1948 – Jan. 1951: Montfort Prep Seminary, Bayshore, N.Y.

Jan. 1951 – December (?) 1953: Missionary Band, Nobelville, Indiana

February 1954 – June 1957: Ogdensburg Diocese

June 1957 – August 1963: St. John Bosco, (Diocese of Alexandria)

1963 – 1981:  BLANK.  (strangely there is no listing here of his time in the Diocese of Albany from 1973 to 1981)

 

December 1981 – June 1985: St. Joseph’s Villa, Cornwall

Below I will incorporate the above with information I attained through Canadian Catholic Directories and other sources, including that from Mr. Ken Goldfarb, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Albany, N.Y.:

September 1942:  Kuper Island school, Vancouver Island, B.C.

1943: Assistant principal at Kuper Island Indian Residential School, Vancouver Island, British Columbia (B.C.) Canada.  Other Montfortians listed at the school were Fathers J. Camirand (Principal) and Honore Seguin.     

1944: Assistant Principal at the Kuper Island school, B.C.  Other Montfortians listed were Fathers J. Camirand (Principal) and B. Touriguy. 

1945:  In one area listing places him in Duncan, B.C., in another Kuper Island.    

1946:  St. Edward Church, Duncan, B.C., with Montfortian Fathers L. Leclair and A. Lombard.

1947:  Quamichan school B.C. (Duncan, B.C) with Monfortian Fathers L. Leclair, J. Cyr and L. Blais.    

1948:  Quamichan school B.C. with Monfortian Fathers L. Leclair, J. Cyr and L. Blais.    

1949 – 1958:  Spotty index listings give Quamichan address but his name is not included with names of Montfortians at the school.  According to the Record of Priests however he left Duncan B.C. July 1948.

Sept. 1948 to January 1951:  Montfort Prep Seminary

Jan. 1951 – December (?) 1953: Missionary Band, Nobelville, Indiana

February 1954 – June 1957: Ogdensburg Diocese

On or about June 1957Apparently got into trouble with boys.  Was stripped of his priestly faculties and asked to leave the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Ordered to return to Montfort Provincial House in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Stone told his Montfort superior his services were expected in Cornwall, Ontario for  couple of weekends.  He was given permission to go with agreement that he report to his superiors as soon as he arrived in Cornwall.  By July he had not reported back.

June 1957:  Taken into the   Diocese of Alexandria Ontario (according to Record of Priests).  Rosario Brodeur was bishop.

Stone was apparently taken in “ad experimentum” for one year at the request of Father H. A. Poirier of St. John Bosco Church who believed Stone was a victim of ‘unfair judgement.’.  At the time Stone was presumably looking for a bishop, meaning he was probably  planning to leave the Montfort Fathers and looking for a bishop who would incardinate him. Brodeur said he would not incardinate Stone.

August 1957:   Msgr. William J. Argy, Chancellor of Diocese of Ogdensburg writes to Bishop Brodeur advising that Stone was asked to leave Ogdensburg around June because of  trouble “cum pueris” (with boys).  Father Argy says “there is a past history of this before he came to this diocese.” That would indicate knowledge of clerical sexual abuse by Stone before he arrived in the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

December 1957: Bishop Brodeur writes to Father Fran S. Setzer SMM, provincial of the Montfort Fathers with an update on Stone’s status.  He describes Stone as “a good priest” ; “most serious. Zealous and efficient.”

25 April 1958:  A concerned Msgr. John M Waterhouse, Vice Chancellor of Ogdensburg Diocese, contacts Brodeur advising that Father Stone has been seen in Malone New York and  that civil authorities “would apprehend Father Stone if they thought he were trying to contact young men of that community.” Waterhouse writes that any measures Brodeur can take to keep Stone from returning to the Diocese of Ogdensburg would be appreciated.

02 May 1958:  Brodeur advises Bishop James J. Navagh, Bishop of Ogdensburg, that he has called Stone in and told him that he would be expelled immediately if he, Stone, visits the Diocese of Ogdensburg.  Brodeur makes an exception – Stone can return to Malone to visit his ailing mother but only with permission of the Alexandria Vicar General and only in the company of a fellow priest.

It is in this letter that Brodeur seems to rationalize keeping Stone in the diocese with the boast that he, Brodeur,  has a “personal weakness” for “fallen priests” and has saved 18 of 20 “from despair” allowing them to resume their ministry.Who the 20 are in such a small diocese is unknown. (At the time there was a total of 28 parishes and approximately 40 priests in the diocese.  The Catholic population in the diocese was 42,010.)

1959:  listed at St. John Bosco, Cornwall (Diocese of Alexandria – now Alexandria-Cornwall) with Fathers H.A. Poirier, S. Theoret.  (the known Cornwall allegations of sexual abuse against Stone are from approximately 1958/1959)  

1960: St. John Bosco, Cornwall (Diocese of Alexandria – now Alexandria-Cornwall) with Fathers H.A. Poirier, S. Theoret and Paul Lapierre (Lapierre was charged and convicted in recent years). 

1961 – 1963: St. John Bosco with Fathers H.A. Poirier and R. Derosiers.

August 1963: Stone is gone.  Whatever trouble he was in is known to police who apparently  “threatened to intervene” and Bishop Brodeur who makes mention of the fact in correspondence.

21 October 1963: Father Lucien LeClair, writes to Bishop Brodeur offering to renew Stone’s one year “absentia a domo religiosa.”

27 October 1963:  Brodeur  regretfully advises Father LeClair, provincial with the Montfort Fathers, that Father Stone left in August “when the Cornwall Police threatened to intervene after his misdemeanour.”

1964: not listed in Canadian directories.

1964- 1973: whereabouts unknown.  There is no record of Stone’s whereabouts from August 1963 to December 1981 listed on the Record of Priests. We know that he was with the Diocese of Albany from 1973 to 1981, but where was he for most of those others years? I will continue to pursue.

1967-1969:  Canadian directories indicate that Stone was back at St. John Bosco in Cornwall with Father Aimé Leduc as pastor.  The Bishop of the day was Adolphe Proulx.  Brodeuer was still alive and about.

If indeed Stone was back in 1967 he may have returned when Ottawa’s Archbishop Joseph Aurele Plourde – former auxiliary bishop to Brodeur – was administrator from afar pending Proulx’ installation.

There was no mention of this two-year-spell at the inquiry.  I believe however he must have been back in the Cornwall area for at least some period in the late 60s to show up in the directories.

1971:   Media reports indicate Father Stone was serving in the Diocese of Albany, N.Y. from 1971 to 1982.  Diocesan officials say 1973 to 1981.

1973 – 1981: according to officials with the Diocese of Albany Stone served in that diocese throughout these years. 

1973-1974:St. Mary’s Oneonta, (Diocese of Albany, N.Y.) as associate pastor

1974-1976: St. Mary’s, Amsterdam (Diocese of Albany, N.Y.) as associate pastor.

1976-1977: St. Mary’s, Gloversville (Diocese of Albany, N.Y.) as associate pastor.

1977 – 1980:  Holy Cross, Morris, and Church of the Nativity mission church in Edmeston, N.Y. (Diocese of Albany, N,Y.)  Father Stone was the Administrator, meaning he was essentially in charge of the parish but was not assigned as pastor.

According to one source while at Morris young lads would go to the rectory where Stone would let them drink and play records.  I am told that Stone would also take the boys to malls to buy them porn magazines.

1981:  Precious Blood, South Kortright, N.Y. (Diocese of Albany). Stone was pastor.

According to news reports was charged and convicted for sodomizing two teenage brothers in the Diocese of Albany, NY somewhere about August 1981.

Albany sources told me some time ago that Stone left Morris in August 1981.  An online article from a few years back indicates that he left Morris after he “became sick.”

Before I was aware that Stone had in fact been charged I was told that he left Morris “when some of the parents started realizing what he was doing with young boys.”

I was also told that while in South Kortright young lads from his previous parish would visit from time to time. Stone gave them wine.  He also asked the boys not to tell anyone what went on back in Morris and in Edmeston.

I have been told by a source that “ I have first hand knowledge of his interest in young boys.”

Was Stone transferred out of Morris after parents or a victim reported to the diocese?  That is unknown.

According to my source it was believed that Stone returned to Canada and had possibly died there.

Stone did indeed return to Canada, but he died in the United States – in the Diocese of Albany – in 2006.

June 1981:  Incardinated with the Diocese of Albany.  That means at that time Father Stone formally left the Montfort Fathers, ceased to be a Montfort Father, and became a diocesan priest in the Diocese of Albany. Bishop Howard Hubbard was Bishop of Albany.

August 1981: According to officials with the Diocese of Albany, N.Y. Stone was arrested on charges of sexual abuse with two minors.

According to diocesan officials, at that time Stone’s priestly faculties were removed, meaning he could no longer hear confessions or say public Masses.

At some time after he was reported or charged Stone spent time in Southdown, a sort of ‘rehab’ centre in Aurora, Ontario for priests and religious .  How long he was in Southdown is unknown, but if he was sent after he was charged in August it doesn’t seem to have been for too long. He surfaced in Cornwall in October 1981.

14 October 1981: Bishop Eugene Larocque memo. Larocque notes that at the request of Father Gary Ostler he, Larocque, met with Father Stone.  Since his departure from Southdown Stone has apparently been staying with Father Gary Ostler.  I am uncertain what parish Ostler was with at that time.

Ostler apparently knew Stone from Stone’s days at St. John Bosco back in the late 50s and early 60s.  Ostler was then a teen and parishioner at the church.

Larocque writes that Stone had to leave the Diocese of Albany because of “an affair with boys.” Stone allegedly tells Larocque he has undergone treatment and, according to Laorcque, “feels he can cope with his lifelong weakness.”

Larocque agrees to take Stone in and assign him to St. Joseph’s Villa, a home for senior citizens.  Stone is apparently told that he is “never to be alone with a boy (s) in a room or a car.”

(Stone had not yet entered his plea of guilty in Albany and was not yet on probation.  Where then did Larocque’s admonition “never to be alone with a boy (s) in a room or a car” come from?”)

(? date) November 1981:  According to Larocque Father Stone applied for landed immigrant status.  From then until 1983 Stone was working in Canada in the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall on temporary extension permits.  How he managed to get the permits while facing criminal charges of sex abuse and after he was convicted is unknown .  

24 November 1981:  Two news articles:  “Man admits sodomy, faces examination,” and “Man pleads guilty to sodomy.” According to one article Stone’s lawyer, Michael Costello (also lawyer for the Diocese of Albany) “surrendered him to authorities.”    According to both articles Stone gave his address as Route 8, Elizaville, Columbia County (Stone was in fact living in Cornwall – probably at St. Joseph’s Villa).

Stone pleaded guilty to two of three third-degree charges of sodomy. The charges relate to sexual abuse which occurred 14 July 1981 and sometime in June 1981.

08 December 1981: Stone is officially appointed chaplain to St. Joseph’s Villa.  Larocque asks Stone to assume additional duties as chaplain at Mount Carmel House in St. Raphael.  Mount Carmel is a residential treatment centre for alcoholic.  The centre is directly beside Iona Academy, an elementary school.

Larocque adds a handwritten note reminding Stone that he is not to be alone with youth “in your car, or room in this diocese or Malone and area.” By this time Stone had entered a guilty plea in the United States but has not been sentenced)

(No documents entered into evidence indicate any contact between Larocque and Bishop Howard Hubbard [Albany] re Stone.  There absolutely had to be some communication between the two.)

24 December 1981:  News clipping “Man on probation in sex case.”  Albany County Judge John J. Clyne finds Carl Stone guilty to two of four third-degree sodomy charges.  The judge puts Stone on probation and orders him to undergo psychiatric treatment (Stone had presumably finished treatment in Southdown by October 1981 when Larocque took him into the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. At some point he was placed on probation – in Cornwall Ontario! – with “alleged” molester Ken Seguin. Who made arrangements for an American citizen convicted of sexual abuse of two boys in the States to serve out his probation in Canada is an unknown.  Ditto who contacted the Cornwall probation office?)

Stone’s address again is listed as Elizaville, Columbia County, N.Y. (Stone had been living in Cornwall, Ontario since Bishop Eugene Larocque took him in in October 1981).   Why Stone lied about his whereabouts to the court is unknown.  Also unknown is what, if anything, the diocesan lawyer representing him court knew about Stone’s service with the Canadian Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall.

According to officials with the Diocese of Albany when Stone was placed on probation “…he was removed from ministry.  He was no longer to present himself as a priest in any way. As far as we knew from 1981-1985 he was living at St. Joseph’s Villa in Cornwall, Ontario.”

It is impossible to believe that Larocque did not know that as of December 1981 Bishop Hubbard had stripped Stone of his faculties and told him he was not to function as a priest in any way. Reagardless Larocque gave this known serial clerical molester faculties and allowed him to function as a priest within the diocese.

What conversations or correspondence, if any, transpired between Hubbard, Larocque, lawyers and/or judges on either or both sides of the border regarding Stone’s status as convicted clerical molester is unknown.

also unknown is who arranged for Stone to report to Ken Seguin?

14 June 1982: Larocque sends a letter to immigration officials – “To whom it may concern” – asking that Stone be cleared by Immigration “to continue his work among us.”

According to his testimony Larocque sent this letter on the advice of someone from the department of Immigration in Cornwall.  There is no response to the letter on file.

12 October 1982: Bishop Larocque letter requesting assistance from Ed Lumley, former Mayor of Cornwall and then in the federal Liberal government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.  Stone’s extension permit runs out 29 October 1982.

Larocque had apparently previously asked Gary Ostler to contact Lumley about “the plight” of Father Stone and his immigrant status.  Larocque tells Lumley that “the problem at hand” relates to a sexual offence for which Stone was tried and convicted in an Albany court.  He tells Lumley that is Stone’s first conviction for any crime and that Stone is currently being monitored by local probation officer Ken Seguin (an “alleged” molester). Larocque knows full well that Stone had previously been caught – on more than one occassion – but somehow managed to elude charges!

22 December 1982:  Larocque travels to Ottawa for a meet with Lloyd Axworthy, the federal Immigration Minister with the Trudeau Liberal government. Larocque apparently asks for a Minister’s Permit allowing Stone to remain in Canada

20 January 1983: Lloyd Axworthy letter to Bishop Larocque.  Axworthy agrees to issue a Minister’s Permit on the basis that, among other things, Stone will not be allowed to work with young people and Larocque agrees to be “personally responsible for Father Stone and his behaviour in Canada and are willing on all occasions top answer for it.”

25 January 1983: Larocque accepts “with gratitude” the conditions laid down by Axworthy for Stone.  In so doing Laorcque agrees to maintain strict control over Stone and agrees to assume full responsibility and be answerable for Stone’s behaviour.

12 February 1985Fern Lebrun, Manager of Cornwall Canada Immigration Centre, to Father Stone advising that Stone’s latest extension of Minister’s Permit is valid to 24 January 1986.  Lebrun informs Stone “that no further extension will likely be approved” and advises that Stone must arrange to leave Canada by 24 January 1986. The letter is copied to provincial and federal immigration officials and Larocque, Father Ostler and Ken Seguin.

(An election in the Fall of 1984 saw a change of government.  The Liberals  were voted out and the Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservative government was in power. Flora MacDonald was Minister of Immigration.  It seems she must have given approval to the 1985 Minister’s Permit but for whatever reason was reluctant to do so again.)

02 April 1985:  Larocque letter to Fern Lebrun (Cornwall Immigration office) attesting the good service Stone is providing in the diocese.  Larocque advises “I will take every measure possible to see that Father Carl Stone be allowed to stay among us in order to continue his ministry.”

The letter was copied to Stone and the Honourable Flora MacDonald.

09 June 1985:  Sister Dolores Kane R.H.S.J., Administrator St. Joseph’s Villa to Bishop Larocque expressing disappointment with her Friday (07 June) phone conversation with Larocque.

It would seem that Sister had personally met with Larocque to discuss her concerns about Father Carl Stone’s behaviour on Wednesday 05 June 1985.  Larocque it seems called Sister on Friday 07 June. From testimony at the inquiry it seems the bishop told Sister he had talked to Stone, Stone denied any misbehaviour, and Larocque chose to pay heed to Stone’s denials.

In her letter Sister Kane reminds Larocque that he had to vouch for Stone to the government..

Larocque testified that he doesn’t know if there was another meet or a phone call with Sister to explain his handwritten notes on the margin her letter.  According to testimony the notes read:

“seen at – frequenting St. Hubert Restaurant with young men.”

“Lanielle,”

“17 to 19 years old appearance of homo using side door,”

“Twice nude in front of young girl,”

“Going on for 1 year – more blatant in past 6 months”

Attached to the letter is a list of persons whom Sister Kane advises are willing to discuss Stone’s “unacceptable behaviour” with Larocque.

(?) June 1985: Bishop Larocque to Father Carl Stone.  Immediate action after Sister Kane’s  Kane’s letter details her concerns in black and white.

Larocque strips Stone of his faculties and orders him to leave the Villa and Canada as soon as possible.  Larocque advises that he has both written and verbal corroboration that Stone had “three young men between the age of 17 and 21 years” in his room over the past six months. He says he feels a “tremendous ‘let-down’” after all he did to get permission for Stone to stay in Canada.

10 June 1985: Father Stone to Sister Kane advising with “profound regret” that “I must resign as Chaplain to Saint Joseph Villa effective immediately.”

What prompted Stone to write a letter of resignation when he had presumably actually been fired is an unknown.   The letter is extremely deceptive in that it conveys the impression of a simple and routine resignation.

21 June 1985:  Larocque to Fern Lebrun (Cornwall Immigration) advising that it is now unnecessary to pursue the issue of Father Stone staying beyond January 1986 as Father Carl Stone has resigned as chaplain at the Villa and returned to live in New York State.

Why did Larocque tell Lebrun that Stone resigned?

Why was Larocque not honest with Lebrun?  Why did he not advise Lebrun that Stone had seriously violated his Minister’s Permit conditions?  Why did Larocque  and had been told to get out? 

1985-86: address 14 York St., Cornwall, Ontario

1986- 2002:  According to officials with the Diocese of Albany Stone spent those years in Owl’s Head, N.Y. They describe Owl’s Head as his family home.

Owl’s Head is close to Malone, N.Y., where Stone was born and raised.  It is unknown at this time if Stone was assisting with Masses anywhere in the area.  Owl’s Head I believe would, like Malone, be within the Diocese of Ogdensburg. I have heard from a source that Stone had a cabin in Owl’s Head.

1993:  American directory (The Official Catholic Directory Anno Domini): – listed as retired.  

2002 – November 2006 – Living at the Tersian House, a nursing home in Albany, N.Y.

29 November 2006: Died in Albany, New York.  Buried in Malone, New York.