Residents voice support for priests After shock, dismay, forgiveness urged

loading...

Paul Bernier runs a gas station, coffee shop and lunch counter in Frenchville and listened to all kinds of talk Monday about the weekend disclosure that two Roman Catholic priests in the area had acknowledged their sexual abuse of minors more than two decades ago.

Many voices Bernier heard were supportive of the priests, he said, while others were critical of what they did. A few suggested that men who were not priests would have done jail time for their actions, he said.

The Revs. John Audibert, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish at Madawaska, and Michael Doucette, pastor of St. Agatha Parish at St. Agatha, St. Luce Parish at Frenchville and St. Joseph Parish at Sinclair, read their confessional messages during Mass on Sunday, and copies were given to parishioners at all other Masses during the weekend.

“Personally, I think Father Mike is a very good pastor,” Bernier said. “Of course I have a problem with what he did. He made a mistake, and he has more than acknowledged it.

“People need to not jump to conclusions, and removal should not be an issue,” Bernier said. “Parishioners need to reflect on this, talk to Father Mike, and they need to allow room for forgiveness.”

Still, there was shock and dismay in several small St. John Valley communities Monday.

The issue came to the fore when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine’s parishes, announced Sunday that, as a policy, it will disclose the identities of active priests who are accused of sexually abusing minors.

The issue has been especially sensitive in neighboring Massachusetts, where a defrocked priest was convicted Jan. 18 of indecent assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy.

On Sunday, the two Maine priests told of their own sexual improprieties, which occurred 22 years ago for Doucette and 26 years ago for Audibert. The allegation against Doucette had been made public in 1991, and against Audibert in 1993. Both priests returned to their ministries after residential treatment programs and evaluations by a review panel set up by the diocese.

During the weekend, both priests asked their parishioners to pray for their victims and for them in their disclosures. Many parishioners, most of whom did not want to be identified, said they supported the priests.

Representatives of Bishop Joseph Gerry will be in Madawaska this weekend to hear the concerns of members of the parish council. They will be at St. Agatha on the weekend of Feb. 23-24.

Some parishioners asked Monday why the issue has been brought up again more than 20 years after the incidents. Many said the two priests have suffered enough, that they’ve paid the price and that they’ve had to live with what they did.

But the diocese concluded that it needed to disclose everything about sexual abuse in the diocese because of what is happening in the Archdiocese of Boston, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Portland diocese.

“Even with us realizing that people knew about them, the diocese felt the priests involved should talk with their parishioners directly,” Bernard said Monday. “They will have to speak about it to their new parish each time they are reassigned.

“The diocese felt we had to fully disclose everything,” Bernard said. “This will not go away for these priests, and as difficult as it is, we are hopeful their burden will be lighter because there will be no secrets.”

While most parishioners knew of their actions – especially of Father Audibert’s, which were highly publicized – there may be people who didn’t know, Bernard said.

According to a statement by the diocese, Doucette, now 55, said he had “several physical encounters” with a 15-year-old parishioner 22 years ago. Audibert was removed from his ministry at Holy Cross in Lewiston when church officials learned about allegations against him, the diocese said. The abuse, also with a teen-age boy, occurred in 1976.

In 1998 Bishop Gerry held a public “service of healing and reconciliation,” as part of a settlement with a young man who was molested by another priest years ago.

“The diocese is contemplating doing another healing service in the St. John Valley,” Bernard said. “While the first one was part of a settlement, we thought of doing something precipitated on our own.”

In the St. John Valley, “the remarks I have received are very positive, very supportive of Father John,” Donald Chasse, president of the St. Thomas Aquinas parish council at Madawaska, said Monday. “I attended all the weekend Masses to get reaction, and I have yet to hear anyone saying he should leave.”

“The parish council is very supportive of him as well,” Chasse said. “We have been asked by representatives of the diocese to listen for the pulse of our parish community, and we will meet again to get the reaction all the members have been receiving.”

The situations occurred more than 20 years ago, and each of them has paid the price, Maynard Martin, a parishioner of St. Agatha, said Monday. “In my opinion, it’s time to move on.”

“We need to support our parish priests,” he said. “I feel for them, and I know it’s hard for them to come public about these issues again.”

There are people who believe that others would have gone to jail for admitting to what Doucette and Audibert have.

If the incidents of abuse had occurred after 1985, either priest could have been charged criminally since there is no longer a statute of limitations in Maine on sexual crimes involving minors.

Neale Adams, the district attorney for Aroostook County, said the six-year statute of limitations was removed by legislation in 1991 for sexual crimes involving children younger than 16 years.

“If the incidents occurred prior to 1985, the statute of limitations had already expired,” Adams said Monday.

The parish of St. Agatha serves the 800 residents of the town that goes by the same name. Last spring, the church for the 408 families had a devastating fire which caused nearly $300,000 in damage to the 50-year-old structure located on Route 162 along Long Lake. When Doucette became pastor in July 2001, he took on the duties as pastor for the parish of St. Luce on Route 1 along the St. John River at Frenchville and St. Joseph at the other end of Long Lake in Sinclair.

St. Thomas Aquinas parish, the larger of two Roman Catholic parishes in Madawaska, serves about 1,200 families. The brick church stands at the apex of 10th Avenue, overlooking the business district. The parish in the papermaking community was founded in 1929. Audibert was assigned to St. Thomas in 2000.