Lawsuit claims retired Canadian bishop headed a 'pedophile clan'

Published: 2005-07-07

OTTAWA (CNS) -- A retired bishop is defending his innocence after being named in a lawsuit that claims he was a leader of a "pedophile clan" that allegedly included several priests, probation officers, lawyers and other high-ranking members of the local establishment. At a July 5 news conference in Cornwall, Ontario, Adrien St. Louis, 48, a former altar boy, claimed retired Bishop Eugene LaRocque of Alexandria-Cornwall twice engaged in sexual activity with him in the mid-1970s. "That is not true," Bishop LaRocque told CBC Television News. "I can swear on a stack of Bibles that's not true. I pray for those who falsely accuse me, that's all, and hope that somehow the Lord will be able to work with them." Paul LeDroit, a London, Ontario-based lawyer who successfully sued the London Diocese on behalf of a sexual abuse victim, filed a $3.1 million (US$2.5 million) lawsuit on behalf of St. Louis and told the news media more lawsuits naming Bishop LaRocque are coming.

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