Alleged abuse victims urge collection plate boycott at Montreal Catholic churches

They may be deaf and mute, but a group of about 200 alleged victims of sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic teaching order who gathered for a demonstration on a frigid Sunday afternoon were able to communicate a powerful message.

In view of their plight, they asked that as people gather in their local Catholic churches for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, that they not donate money to the collection plate as it is passed around.

“Until the Catholic Church acknowledges the abuse that has occurred, until it tries to repair the damage that was done, we think people should stop giving money that will just be used to pay for expensive lawyers who help the church deny these allegations and protect pedophile priests,” said France Bédard, founder of a not-for-profit support group, the Association des victimes de prêtres, which aims to help people who say they were abused by members of religious orders. She said she herself was raped by a priest as a teenager.

“This is the biggest payday of the year for the church,” said Carlo Tarini, a spokesperson for the group. “We are calling for a worldwide boycott of these collection plates to send a clear message to the Catholic Church. People should donate to Centraide or the United Way instead.”

The alleged victims of the Clercs de Saint-Viateur are pursuing a class-action suit against the religious order, and so far 60 former students have named 28 priests and brothers as their alleged abusers. They are seeking $100,000 each in damages – a pittance, according to Bédard, who says these most vulnerable children suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the priests that went on for years and has scarred them to this day. It may be the biggest case of abuse involving deaf children in the world.

Tarini said the allegations of abuse at the school stretched from 1940 to 1982, and that at times there were 300 children in the school. “We can’t even imagine how many victims there were,” Bédard said.

On Sunday, a group of victims gathered in front of the Église Saint-Viateur on Laurier Ave. in Outremont to denounce the abuse they say they endured repeatedly.

“These were perfect victims for pedophiles,” said Tarini. “They couldn’t express themselves and an entire generation of deaf and mute children in Quebec suffered as a result of that.”

Bédard said the victims came out despite the cold because they are still hurting all these years later.

“They became sexual slaves to the priests, they were tortured,” she said. “And the church turned a blind eye to them.”