Prominent priest says it’s time church released names of abusers and protectors

A prominent Roman Catholic priest says it is time the church released the names of sexual abusers and those who protect them.

Rev. André Poilièvre, who was awarded the Order of Canada in 2009 for his work with prison inmates and street gang members, made the comments in an interview with the CBC’s Jason Warick.

Last week, Warick published a wide-ranging story on abuse in the province of Saskatchewan, where Poilièvre is based.

The 83-year-old Poilièvre, who insists on being called André, did away with his clerical collar in 1978 and has worn casual street clothes ever since.

He pulled no punches in his wide-ranging interview with Warick.

Poilièvre said he supported those calling for the church to release the names of both abusers and their protectors in the church hierarchy, telling Warick the church also needs to end what he called the “unhealthy” ban on female, married and gay priests.

“You want to deal with sexual abuse in the church. Ordain married men. Ordain single men. Ordain married women. Ordain single women, Black, white, gay? Who cares?” he said.

Poilièvre told Warick he believes most of his colleagues are good men, but he called the church’s structure overly hierarchical and sexist.

“The whole cultural clerical system in the church is demonic,” he told Warick.

“It’s evil. It’s anti-woman, You know that the whole clerical culture needs to be destroyed.”

Earlier this month, Pope Francis abolished pontifical secrecy in clergy sex abuse investigations and the Jesuits of Canada promised to release the names of all its priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors over the last 60 years by January 2021.

Some Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. have offered–or been forced–to release lists of priests convicted in court, as well as the names of others who were discovered in church investigations.

In September, Canadian survivors of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests called on the church’s bishops to follow the lead of some of their U.S. counterparts and release the names of clergy facing credible misconduct charges and allegations.

The survivors made the call in Cornwall, Ontario, where the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was holding its annual meeting.

So far, Vancouver is the first and only Canadian diocese to release such information.

It found 36 cases involving credibly accused priests but released the names of only nine.

Saskatchewan church leaders say they are compiling files on abuser priests but none have committed to making the names public, saying they don’t share abuse findings with police if the victim is no longer a minor.

With files from CBC (Jason Warick), RCI, Canadian Catholic News