Police presence visible during meeting between Gagnon, St. John Valley parish council

SINCLAIR – The presence of David Gagnon apparently made some people in the St. Agatha and Sinclair areas nervous. Some called police, wondering if church services would be disrupted. Others worried about Gagnon’s safety.

Unobtrusive as they attempted to be, police were visible, some in uniform and some in plain clothes.

“There were no specifics, but someone called and they were concerned,” Aroostook County Sheriff James Madore said. “Some were concerned about the reaction to Gagnon, and others were concerned that Mass could be disrupted.

Gagnon met with 12 members of the pastoral council of St. Agatha, Frenchville and Sinclair on Saturday afternoon in the fire station at Sinclair. Reporters were not allowed into the meeting.

“We decided to err on the side of caution,” Madore said. “There were concerns [Gagnon would] attempt to enter the church and speak his mind.”

Madore said there were concerns for Gagnon’s safety as well.

Gagnon met with church leaders to tell about his sexual abuse by a priest in Biddeford when he was 15 to 17 years old. The priest, the Rev. Michael Doucette, is now pastor of St. Joseph Parish at Sinclair, St. Agatha and St. Luce at Frenchville.

Shortly after the meeting began at 2 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Steve Belanger drove into the parking lot at the fire station, which is across the street from St. Joseph Catholic Church. He looked around, then left.

A short time later, Deputy Percy Thibeault drove through the area and parked some distance away. He could see the fire station from where he was.

Fifteen minutes before the meeting ended, Deputy Sgt. Michael Berube drove around the parking lot at the fire station and left.

Thibeault did not leave his vantage point until most people left the area of the fire station and the church, just after 4 p.m.

Madore was seen parked in front of the St. Agatha Church less than half an hour prior to the 4:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday. St. Agatha Constable Roger Bosse spoke with him outside the church.

Bosse said he was asked to be at the church Saturday afternoon by the pastoral council.

“People were nervous, afraid of some problems,” Bosse said.

Former state Sen. Judy Paradis of Frenchville said Sunday that she was one of those who called a deputy sheriff. “I got a lot of calls from concerned people,” she said Sunday. “Some people felt his vocabulary, insisting on wanting to talk to parishioners, was threatening.”

“People are concerned here,” Paradis said. “They are trying to go on with their lives, and the world is getting involved in their lives. People seem to be judging people from the [St. John] Valley, saying we just don’t get it, and they are having a field day.

“People here are uncomfortable, and they have been calling, wondering if their religious ceremony would be disrupted,” she said.

Madore said he also had officers near the St. Joseph Church at Sinclair prior to its Mass at 6:30 p.m.

There were no incidents at either site.