Priest accused of sex assaults described as being a "playboy": lawyer
Credit to Author: Keith Fraser| Date: Tue, 08 Oct 2019 01:01:36 +0000
A priest accused of sexual assault was described as being “promiscuous” and a “playboy” by his former bishop during pretrial proceedings for a B.C. Supreme Court civil trial, a judge heard Monday.
Former Archbishop Adam Exner, who at the time of the allegations was the bishop of Kamloops and is expected to testify next week, made the comments during an examination for discovery in the case of Rosemary Anderson, who claims that Father Erlindo Molon sexually assaulted her over a period of months in 1976 and 1977.
Anderson’s 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.
Exner, 90, who was archbishop of Vancouver from 1991 to 2004, admitted during the pretrial discovery that early in 1976 “people” came to him to report concerns about Molon’s sexual involvement with one or more parishioners and that he felt he had to do something about him, Sandra Kovacs, a lawyer for Anderson, said Monday.
A 1996 photo of Archbishop Adam Exner.
The rumours about Molon began shortly after he was active as a priest in the parish and “kept coming.” Exner tried to verify the rumours, launching an investigating but not recording any of those investigations in writing, Kovacs told B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crossin.
“Father Molon, in the archbishop’s own words, was ‘a playboy.’ He calls Father Molon ‘promiscuous.’ He admits, in his own words, that Father Molon ‘was taking advantage of quite a few people.’ Specifically, he was having ‘inappropriate relationships with women.’”
The plaintiff’s lawyer said Exner did speak to Molon, who he said admitted to the rumours and shrugged his shoulders, saying, “I’m human.”
Exner admitted he shared the concerns about Molon with some of his “close collaborators,” including the Presbyteral Counsel, said Kovacs.
“He and other clergy put pressure on Father Molon to correct his behaviour in the spring of 1976. Archbishop Exner had considered removing Father Molon but ‘still wanted to leave a door open for possibility of rehabilitation, although he wasn’t co-operative in any sense’ to his offer of rehabilitation.”
Then-bishop Exner allowed Molon to stay on, with full faculties without restriction, and Molon continued to provide care to parishioners, including female parishioners, Kovacs told the judge.
Anderson says that in September 1976 she was 26 years of age and had just been hired to begin teaching at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help school in Kamloops.
She claims she was grieving the death of her father at the time and sought spiritual guidance from Molon, but that the priest took advantage of her and breached the boundaries of the priest-parishioner relationship and “raped” her between 75 and 100 times, the attacks happening at the rectory and her apartment.
“During the period of the assaults, Ms. Anderson says she felt frozen,” said Kovacs. “Trapped. Coerced. Manipulated. Threatened. She had no idea how to get out of the hell she will say that she was living in.”
Anderson will testify that she met with Exner in early 1977 in an attempt to “make it right,” thinking she should ask the bishop if she should marry Molon, said Kovacs.
Exner admitted in his discovery that her report to him was the “final straw that broke the camel’s back” and that Molon had taken advantage of Anderson, who Exner viewed as being vulnerable, she said.
“Archbishop Exner admits he was concerned about the effect of the events involving Father Molon with the parishioners, and that it was a scandal,” said Kovacs. “Removing the scandal was the foremost concern.”
Anderson will say that despite her report of the abuse to Exner, the sexual assaults by Molon continued for a period of time, said the plaintiff’s lawyer.
In or around March 1977, Exner verbally dismissed Molon from the parish, said Kovacs. “Archbishop Exner did not immediately inform the parishioners that he had suspended Father Molon.”
The judge was told that Molon, 88, is not taking part in the trial. Molon, who suffers from dementia, is living in a long-term care facility in Kingston and has filed a response to the lawsuit denying the allegations.
The bishop also denies the allegations of negligence.
On Monday, the judge ordered that parts of an expert report by the plaintiff be redacted. Anderson is expected to begin her testimony Tuesday.
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