[Note from Sylvia: The following is an unofficial English translation, courtesy of both Google and JG. Scroll down for the original French text]

LaPresse.ca

LeSoleil

17 September 2013

Isabelle Mathieu Isabelle Mathieu the Sun

The courthouse in Quebec … ( The Sun Gallery , Erick Labbé )

( Quebec ) The very upsetting testimony of a fourth victim in the trial of the

Redemptorists has cast a harsh light on the extent of sexual abuse in Saint

-Alphonse Seminary in the 1980s, in addition to having been sodomized

repeatedly by the school principal , Father François Plourde, this student

has suffered the onslaught of two other priests.

Of an infinite sadness , the testimony of the 44 year old man , who now lives in Montreal , drew tears from some of the audience, including his lawyers .

Behind his compassionate, watchful eye , the judge, Claude Bouchard several times proposed to the crushed witness that he could take a break . He accepted the offer on one occasion, nauseated at the sight of the picture of one of his attackers .

The adolescent boy was enrolled in Saint -Alphonse

Seminary, neighbor of Sainte-Anne- de-

Beaupré Basilica for his “secondary 2”(grade 10) in 1983, because his parents wanted him to get a religious education.

Shortly after his arrival, the director of Saint -Alphonse Seminary, Father François Plourde, who only recently had come to occupy the position of second in charge of the

Redemptorist Congregation, took a liking to him.

The religious man proposes to the boy that he take part in a play and to interpret the role of a woman. The small, shy boy had no desire or taste for comedy and was hesitant to accept this. His parents convinced him to try this new experience. The following week, Father Plourde called the young man using the school intercom.

Once the teenager arrived in his office, he offered him a dress – ” yellow ” recalls the victim – and asked him to put it on. The young boy slipped the dress on over his own clothes.

Father Plourde stopped him, asking him to first remove his clothes, including his underwear .

Once the young man was naked under the dress, the priest, according to the witness , began to masturbate him. He then pulled him by the arm and led him behind his desk.

Father François Plourde then pulled out a jar of ” Vicks .” “He pushed me over his desk and put the Vicks on my anus before entering me, the victim painfully recounts. I still remember the incredible pain … ”

Upon returning home at the end of the week , the young man begged his parents to remove him from the seminary. His parents said he would get used to it and refused .

Dead in his soul , the student returned to the College Sainte- Anne -de- Beaupré .

Throughout the fall , he suffered the assaults by Father Plourde, about twice a week, after school. Masturbation, oral sex and anal sex always with camphor balm . After each attack , the student said he ran to the shower to get rid of the peculiar smell, lest his friends question him about it .

In order to avoid being exposed , Father Plourde had to plan, in a panic, a theatrical representation to deceive the young man’s parents , who said they wanted to attend.

Before leaving for the Christmas break , the young man confronted Father François Plourde . To his surprise , the religious man broke down in tears, on the carpet , squeezing the young man in his arms. “He told me that he also had a special friend when he was young and that it was very important to have one ,” the victim testified .

A few days later, Father François Plourde, 49, hanged himself at the monastery. His body was found four days later.

First relieved, the teen ended up feeling responsible for the death of Father Plourde .

Distressed, he went to the office of Father Hervé Blanchet, for advice .

Instead of helping him , Father Blanchet pulled him up close and with his hand in the victimʼs pants, started to masturbate him.

After the meeting, Father Blanchet offered him a chocolate bar and some change

before telling him that henceforth he would take care of him.

Right up the time he left school at the end of S4 , the victim suffered occasional attacks of Father Blanchet . “It was less common because Father Blanchet had relations with many other students ,” said the witness.

The 44 year old man says he was aggressed on only one occasion by Father Raymond –Marie Lavoie, but added he often surprised that priest masturbating other young boys.

The abuse by some priests of the Seminary was so well known that students gave them nicknames, said the witness “Semen Blanco ” for Father Hervé Blanchet, and “bag grabber” for Father Alexis Trépanier . “Every priest had his favorites and they did not trade them ” even added the witness.

The former student of the seminary doesnʼt understand why none of the teachers or school employees ever responded to what was happening before their eyes.

The man lived all his high school years in terror that he would be discovered by others and become a scapegoat .

He buried this horrible past in his heart , but his life was still partially destroyed , he told the judge Bouchard.

He married at age 20, ” to prove that I was not gay ,” and has two children, he doesnʼt see today. He managed to rebuild a family with his new wife, but testified that the trial is now starting to undermine the relationship.

He suddenly could no longer be silent in 2009, when he read the news of the arrest of Raymond -Marie Lavoie and that is when he went to the police.

Since the beginning of the trial, other victims have identified other perpetrators such as Fathers Jean -Claude Bergeron and Langevin Xiste .

……….

Procès des pères Rédemptoristes: un témoignage d’une tristesse infinie

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LeSoliel

Isabelle Mathieu

Le Soleil Le Soleil

Publié le 17 septembre 2013 à 13h52 | Mis à jour le 17 septembre 2013 à 13h52

(Québec) Le témoignage bouleversant d’une quatrième victime au procès des Rédemptoristes a jeté une lumière crue sur l’ampleur des abus sexuels au Séminaire Saint-Alphonse dans les années 1980; en plus d’avoir été sodomisé à de multiples reprises par le directeur de l’école, le père François Plourde, cet étudiant a subi les assauts de deux autres prêtres.

Agrandir Le père François Plourde Photo déposée au dossier de la Cour