Sexual abuse allegations against a Catholic teacher in Prince George

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Note: The content of this story is graphic and may disturb some readers.

A teacher at a Roman Catholic school in Prince George and a member of the Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland, victim of sexual abuse, faces allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage boy of his life. keep.

Complainant, known as John Doe in a BC Supreme Court civil action notice, alleges O’Grady Catholic High School teacher Alfred Patrick Quigley assaulted him sexually and psychologically from 1991 to 1994.

Quigley is one of eight defendants named in the claim (see below). The other accused include a former Bishop of Prince George and the Archbishop of Vancouver.

Doe, a medical technologist from Victoria who was raised in a devout Catholic family, alleged that Quigley had treated him unusually attentively, taking nude steam baths after sports, isolating him from his family and his friends and by “playing touch” and tickle.

It was during a trip in 1993 to visit Simon Fraser University in Burnaby (where Doe had won a scholarship) that Quigley allegedly arranged for the two men to share a room at St. Thomas Moore Collegiate in Burnaby, where Quigley was a former teacher, according to claim.

The bedroom had a small bed, which Quigley reportedly invited Doe to share.

“The complainant felt Quigley start to touch him, his leg, then his penis, first through his clothes, then under his clothes,” said the request. “The Complainant felt Quigley’s beard against his cheek. The complainant froze first, then pushed Quigley’s arm away and lay on the ground, tensed and panicked. The complainant remembers crying as he looked at the crucifix above the door and prayed.

Soon, Doe’s schoolwork began to decline, and her college entry was postponed. Then, in the summer of 1994, Doe traveled to Newfoundland where he met Quigley’s family. The couple then traveled to Ontario. While in Montreal, according to the claim, Quigley made Doe drink alcohol and broadcast pornographic films on television, prompting the complainant to masturbate. Doe refused but Quigley allegedly masturbated in front of Doe’s face.

“At all times… The complainant was a minor and did not have the capacity to consent to any sexual contact whatsoever,” said the request.

Mount Cashel Orphanage

The claim, filed Aug. 16 by lawyer Sandra Kovacs, said Quigley had been a teacher at the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage. As a member of the Congregation of the Christian Brothers, he was an unordered member of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church and took a vow of celibacy, according to the claim.

In 2020, the highest court in Newfoundland and Labrador ruled that the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s was financially responsible for the sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in the 1950s. This meant a payment of $ 2 million to the four principal plaintiffs with liability imposed on the Archdiocese for the conduct of five Mount Cashel Christian Brothers.

The orphanage closed in 1990 and was demolished two years later, but the scandal rocked the province and horrified Canadians.

Doe’s claim said Quigley allegedly abused or was at risk of abusing boys in Mount Cashel.

Further, he added, an agreement with the Newfoundland Police and Justice Department not to charge potentially offending clergy allowed the church to move clergy out of the province “without being detected, unauthorized and without any adequate warning to the receiving jurisdiction ”.

According to the claim, Quigley told Doe he was in Mount Cashel at the time of the alleged abuse and feared he would be called to testify in court.

And, he said Quigley was part of the movement of people associated with abuse between different parts of Canada.

He had been sent to St. Thomas Moore Collegiate in Vancouver before going to Prince George.

The claim stated that the Archbishop of Vancouver was responsible for St. Thomas Moore and had the power to transfer and remove Christian brethren. He said the Archdiocese should have known about allegations against Christian Brothers, including Quigley.

The lawsuit said all of the defendants “were complicit in a culture of ingrained clericalism and distorted beliefs that implicitly promoted the psychosexual immaturity of priests and brethren of religious institutes and the perpetuation of sexually deviant behavior and / or a victim-perpetrator cycle ”.

No registration, says the archdiocese

In a statement to Glacier Media, the Archdiocese of Vancouver said there was no record of Quigley having worked for him.

“We can clarify that the accused was working in Prince George at the time he was reported,” the statement said. “We deeply regret the harm suffered by victims as a result of sexual abuse or assault.”

Although the Archdiocese could not comment further as the case is before the courts, the statement encouraged anyone who has been sexually abused by a Catholic cleric to call professional counselors at an independent complaint line at 604-363- 7338 or contact the RCMP directly. .

Quigley could not be located and the Diocese of Prince George could not be reached for comment.

Named as defendants in the case are:

Quigley; the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Prince Rupert, also known as the Diocese of Prince George, British Columbia; Bishop Emeritus Gerald Wiesner; the Independent Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Prince George, formerly the Catholic Public Schools of the Vicariate of Prince Rupert; Prince George College, also known as O’Grady Catholic High School; St. Thomas More Collegiate Ltd., Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver; The Archbishop of Independent Catholic Schools of Vancouver; and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s.

Several of those defendants were also named in a July lawsuit brought by Darren Liptrot alleging the Christian Brothers’ move to the Lower Mainland. The class action lawsuit alleged that the defendants failed to protect the children of Vancouver College and St. Thomas More from the abusers.

The allegations have yet to be tested in court.

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