Source: https://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/2006/08/12/sometimes-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 21:56:48+00:00

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There are many times in these troubled days when as a Roman Catholic I just want to hang my head in shame.
I encountered several such moments watching Bishop Paul Andre Durocher testify and reading the transcripts of his testimony.
Some of the moments were prompted by Durocher himself, others by documents which were entered into evidence.
Before moving on I also must add that in 1983 Father Frank Morrissey and Justice Colin McKinnon were founding members of the Ottawa St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild. What that boils down to I have no idea, but certainly the pair know each other. And I must acknowledge that I can’t help but wonder if, for example, McKinnon ever offered his legal expertise in the above matter to Morrissey and King? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility is it?
But this inquiry isn’t mandated to inquire into the role played by the judiciary in the Cornwall scandal so I suppose we may never know?
Two final bits of trivia on Father Jeffrey King: Back in the 90’s, while he was yet a lawyer and before he felt called to the priesthood Jeffrey King, met regularly with the Apostolic Nuncio at the Nuncio’s palace in Rockliffe Park. And King was – perhaps still is? – a staunch Liberal.
And what that all boils down to I have no idea, but it’s all rather interesting isn’t it how different paths sometimes seem to converge?
Bishop Durocher testified that there is no Secret Archives in the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall.
Did you notice the reference in the above King quotes to the Secret Archives?
Can you believe it? An envelope marked ‘for the bishops’ eyes only’ popped in with all the other files? That’s it?
486 – §1. All documents which regard the diocese or parishes must be protected with the greatest care.
§2. In every curia there is to be erected in a safe place a diocesan archive, or record storage area, in which instruments and written documents which pertain to the spiritual and temporal affairs of the diocese are to be safeguarded after being properly filed and diligently secured.
§3. An inventory, or catalogue, of the documents which are contained in the archive is to be kept with a brief synopsis of each written document.
487 – §1. The archive must be locked and only the bishop and chancellor are to have its key. No one is permitted to enter except with the permission either of the bishop or of both the moderator of the curia and the chancellor.
488 – It is not permitted to remove documents from the archive except for a brief time only and with the consent either of the bishop or of both the moderator of the curia and the chancellor.
489 – §1. In the diocesan curia there is also to be a secret archive, or at least in the common archive there is to be a safe or cabinet, completely closed and locked, which cannot be removed; in it documents to be kept secret are to be protected most securely.
490 – §1. Only the bishop is to have the key to the secret archive.
So what’s going on in Cornwall? Is Bishop Durocher violating the law of his Church? Does the diocese truly not have a Secret Archives? And if not, why not? Or, have great minds managed to somehow obey the letter of Church law in such a fashion that they can circumvent disclosure obligations by denying the existence of a Secret Archive?
I would also venture to guess the diocesan wagons are being well circled to account for the 1993 diocesan settlement containing the illegal gag order which was presumably simply filed – sight unseen – in a manila envelope.
So, yes, I sometimes hang my head in shame. This is what people see and know of the Roman Catholic Church.
This entry was posted in Alexandria-Cornwall Diocese, Bishops, Circling the wagons, Clerical sexual predators, Cornwall and tagged canon lawyer, Frank Morrissey, Jeff King, lawyers, testimony. Bookmark the permalink.

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