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He says the two women made the allegations individually.

“The second one actually didn’t come forward,” said Le. “I heard about her from the first one, and I contacted the second one and asked whether the allegation was true or not, and she told me it happened.”

The initial complaint came from a woman who thinks she was a minor.

“According to the victim she was a minor at that moment, but according to the priest maybe she was already 19 years old,” said Le. “So we are not able to find out yet whether the date was correct or not. This happened many years ago, so the recollection was a little bit vague.”

In spite of the allegations, Le said the police have not been contacted, so no charges have been filed.

“The victim is now an adult,” said Le. “She doesn’t want to pursue it. She had been advised of the right to go to the police, but she refused. Both of them (refused).”

Le said the women were offered counselling, but declined.

“They even advocated for the man not to be punished further. Because of the closeness of the Vietnamese (community), maybe that is what they think. They don’t want the man to be punished further, other than being removed from his post.”

The allegations come in the wake of a statement in August by Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller calling on anyone who knows of abuse to contact the church or law enforcement.

Congregations in Alberta were alerted to the allegations over the weekend, Smith said.

Tran is not to be confused with another Father Peter Tran, who is chancellor of Alberta’s Catholic Diocese of St. Paul, Smith said.