SINCLAIR – David Gagnon traveled 10 hours by bus to tell his side of the story about three years of sexual abuse by a priest 22 years ago.

For 90 minutes Saturday afternoon, Gagnon, 37, met privately with 12 members of the council that represents three St. John Valley parishes served by the Rev. Michael Doucette. Gagnon was accompanied to the meeting by two friends from the Aroostook County Rape Crisis Center. All others, including reporters, were barred.

“The spirit was welcoming. They were empathetic, kind and concerned,” Gagnon told reporters after the 2 p.m. meeting. “I explained my experience, what Michael Doucette did to me.

“I felt I had to tell them my side because

the church and Michael Doucette were not being honest,” he said. “They wanted a clear understanding of what had happened to me.”

Gagnon said he wasn’t overly graphic, but was descriptive in his discussions.

Gagnon, formerly of Old Orchard Beach, has been living in Ottawa, Ontario, for more than a decade. The sexual abuse he suffered occurred more than 22 years ago, when he was 15 to 17. He identified Doucette as the assistant pastor at St. Andre’s Parish in Biddeford, where the abuse occurred.

Gagnon reported the abuse to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in 1992.

He reached a settlement with the diocese and had agreed not to discuss the case. He said this week that he went public because the diocese and Doucette have not been honest.

“It was insightful and painful while he shared his experience,” Kevin Lavoie, acting president of the three-parish pastoral council, said after the meeting. “We wanted to hear his side of the story as a council, to make a decision.

“He wanted to share his story, and I think it was in our best interest to hear David out,” Lavoie said. “Every coin has two sides, and we want to make an informed decision.” The pastoral council will meet with officials of the diocese next weekend.

Doucette is pastor of the three parishes. Because of declining numbers of priests in the diocese, Doucette became pastor of St. Luce Parish in Frenchville and St. Joseph Parish in Sinclair when he was named last July to the St. Agatha post.

The session with Gagnon was held in the small meeting room of the Sinclair Volunteer Fire Department, thought to be neutral ground for the unprecedented meeting.

The Saturday afternoon session was not what Gagnon wanted. He wanted to speak directly to Doucette’s parishioners, but the pastoral council decided otherwise. Gagnon’s original request was made to Bishop Joseph Gerry. But Gerry turned the decision over to the pastoral council. The diocese paid Gagnon’s expenses for the trip.

Lavoie called the session “trying on everyone … very emotional … very hurtful.” He also described the session as “productive … informal.”

Lavoie said members of the pastoral council would speak privately, not publicly, to parishioners who were interested in finding out about Gagnon. There will be no large meeting to inform parishioners.

Two weeks ago, the diocese announced that two active Maine priests, Doucette and the Rev. John Audibert of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish at Madawaska, had been involved in sexual abuse incidents 22 and 26 years ago.

Gagnon said Saturday that both priests should be removed.

“I want the parish council to decide that [Doucette] should not be in the ministry, and it should be the same for Audibert,” Gagnon said outside the meeting. “It doesn’t matter what they think. The diocese will do what it wants.

“But I have done everything that I could,” he said. “I hope wisdom will prevail.

“The diocese should have the courage to make the decision that needs to be made,” he said. “The diocese did not think of me. They never even contacted me when they made a decision to make Doucette’s and Audibert’s names public.”

He hopes the pastoral council will make a “good decision.” He said he did not know what he would do if the council decided to keep the priest in the parishes.

Gagnon stayed at an Edmundston, New Brunswick, hotel Friday and Saturday night before returning to Ottawa on Sunday.