Former bishop says Deslauriers was a ‘master manipulator’
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
30 July 2008
Posted By Trevor Pritchard
A Catholic priest convicted in 1986 of sexually abusing four young men was a “master manipulator,” his former bishop told the Cornwall Public Inquiry yesterday.
“I was under his control,” said Eugene LaRocque, referring to Rev. Gilles Deslauriers. “He was manipulating me.”
LaRocque, 81, was the bishop of the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese from 1974 until 2002. Tuesday was his first day testifying at the inquiry, which is probing how institutions like the church handled historical sexual abuse complaints.
When LaRocque first met Deslauriers in September 1974, the priest was celebrating mass at two parishes in Alexandria and Green Valley.
It didn’t take long, LaRocque said, to realize Deslauriers was someone who was comfortable taking charge.
“I knew he had been secretary and the right-hand man to (former bishop Adolphe Proulx),” said LaRocque.
“He told me so himself. He was a man who liked to be in control of the situation.”
As sexual abuse allegations involving Deslauriers began to surface in the diocese, LaRocque said Deslauriers was able to sway him into believing his version of events.
One of the first people to complain about Deslauriers was Claude Thibault, a young seminarian who met with LaRocque in the early 1980s.
Thibault told the inquiry last October he had been sexually abused by Deslauriers. He said he wanted to meet with the bishop out of concerns that Deslauriers – whom he perceived as LaRocque’s “right-hand man” – might say negative things about him while he finished his theological studies.
Commission lawyer Pierre Dumais suggested LaRocque’s stern reaction – Thibault testified LaRocque said he should be careful about making “grave accusations” against the priest – might have kept the young student from speaking about his abuse.
“Yes, that’s probably true,” LaRocque replied.
Another meeting took place in the fall of 1985 between LaRocque and the mother of a young man who was alleging Deslauriers had abused him as well.
The mother told LaRocque she wanted her son “out from under the hands of Gilles Deslauriers.”
LaRocque said he’d been warned by the woman’s brother that her allegations were untrue.
It was only later, LaRocque said, that he learned Deslauriers had managed to convince the brother he was innocent and that he should take his side over his sister’s.
LaRocque apologized to the mother Tuesday for his behaviour.
“I think I was quite unfair towards her,” he said.
Deslauriers eventually did come to LaRocque on Jan. 27, 1986 and admit to an “indiscretion” – that he had touched a young man sexually over his clothes.
LaRocque said he ordered Deslauriers to take a 30-day retreat “to get his life in order.” After learning of seven more allegations from the church’s chancellor, LaRocque suspended Deslauriers on Feb. 13, 1986 from working in the diocese.
LaRocque agreed to let Deslauriers stay with Proulx, who was now bishop for the Diocese of Gatineau-Hull, at his cottage – a decision he described Tuesday as “one of my first mistakes.”
“To a certain extent, I lost my power over him,” said LaRocque. “He should have stayed with me.”
Soon afterwards, reports would reach the diocese that Deslauriers was celebrating mass in the Ottawa area, under Proulx’s watchful eye.
LaRocque said he felt compelled to meet with Proulx to make sure his colleague understood the severity of the allegations Deslauriers was facing.
Proulx received him “very coldly” and had Deslauriers sit in on the meeting, said LaRocque.
“I found that a little bit out of order,” he said. “It may be another sign of (Deslauriers’) manipulative power.”
LaRocque testified that although he wanted Proulx to remove Deslauriers from his pastoral duties with the Gatineau-Hull diocese, he didn’t have the authority to order another bishop around.
LaRocque would soon strike a three-person committee with a mandate to make recommendations on how the diocese should deal with allegations against Deslauriers.
The committee’s final report in May 1986 made three recommendations – one of which was that Deslauriers be suspended by Rome from celebrating mass in any diocese.
LaRocque said he disagreed with that recommendation because it flew in the face of advice he’d received from Jacques Jobin, a therapist whom Deslauriers had been referred to by Bishop Proulx.
It was Jobin’s belief, LaRocque said, that letting Deslauriers perform pastoral work would help the disgraced priest “get through his problem.”
Nevertheless, LaRocque said he had concerns about Jobin’s recommendation as well.
“Let’s say I had some suspicion that Father Gilles had succeeded (in manipulating Jobin) as he had with so many others,” he said.
Deslauriers would be charged in July 1986 with 16 sexual offences involving nine youths from the Cornwall area.
He pleaded guilty that November to four counts of indecent assault and received two years’ probation.
LaRocque is expected to return to the stand when the inquiry resumes at 9:30 a.m. today.
tpritchard@standard-freeholder.com
Article ID# 1136502
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Comments on this Article.
So Itinerant still think the victims were all liars
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By dodger,
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Anyone who has ever been in Bishop Eugene LaRocque’s presence is finding it pretty hard to imagine he was ever manipulated or intimidated by anyone. LaRocque was the kind of bishop who intimidated others, including congregants. Hard to imagine he was controlled by another priest in any fashion. Even harder to come to terms with the fact he’s saying as much at a public inquiry. LaRocque has always had a reputation of “boss” … he did not take kindly to anyone who might challenge or question his decisions.
But Deslauriers controlled him, he says. If that’s true, it’s no wonder these poor children were abused by Deslauriers. If LaRocque was controlled and manipulated by him, what chance did these kids have?
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By LocalReader,
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I do know Bishop Laroque from my past dealings with the church through the confirmation of my children and I know from his character that he is not the one who is dominated by anyone but on the contrary his personality is very strong and dominant. I wanted a certain man and his wife to be the godparents of my children and they didn’t want because they knew of bishop Larocque’s past in Windsor where their daughter resided. This couple were a well known and prominent people in Cornwall at the time. Priests lie on the stand just like everyone else. Most of the young people were truthful and there are many more out there from the past who are very afraid to come forward. I don’t trust anyone of any authority and never have. When my daughter goes to the doctor I am in every room with her and she is an adult. I trust only in God Himself and nobody else. Priests cannot be trusted at all nor doctors, lawyers or any of them; they all hide behind their status. Wake up sheeple before it is too late. So much is going on in our society that it would make your heads turn.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By jules10003,
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I do know Bishop Laroque from my past dealings with the church through the confirmation of my children and I know from his character that he is not the one who is dominated by anyone but on the contrary his personality is very strong and dominant. I wanted a certain man and his wife to be the godparents of my children and they didn’t want because they knew of bishop Larocque’s past in Windsor where their daughter resided. This couple were a well known and prominent people in Cornwall at the time. Priests lie on the stand just like everyone else. Most of the young people were truthful and there are many more out there from the past who are very afraid to come forward. I don’t trust anyone of any authority and never have. When my daughter goes to the doctor I am in every room with her and she is an adult. I trust only in God Himself and nobody else. Priests cannot be trusted at all nor doctors, lawyers or any of them; they all hide behind their status. Wake up sheeple before it is too late. So much is going on in our society that it would make your heads turn.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #4 By jules10003,
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Dodger, you are right on the money but I do have to wonder not only about Itinerant but about 2Faced as well! So if Laroque was as he says “I was under his control.” it makes me kind of wonder just what the hell it was that made him a Bishop, supposedly “in control” of Rev. Gilles Deslauriers who as we ALL know is “beneath” a Bishop or was he “beneath” something else?
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #5 By saintpeter-47,