‘A sense of the unfathomable’

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This article was published 18/03/2025 (582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Unfathomable.”

That’s the word Albert LeGatt, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Boniface, repeated multiple times last week during a prayer service that may have been the first of its kind across Canada — focusing on survivors of sexual assault committed by clergy.

“When I think of this whole reality of sexual abuse, that’s the word that comes to mind,” LeGatt told about 75 people at Christ the King Parish on St. Mary’s Road.

“When I hear stories from survivors and family members, I have a sense of the unfathomable. How could a person do that to another human being? To someone so little, whether that was by a priest, a parent, a coach, a teacher. How?”

LeGatt said it is beyond his understanding how the church was silent on the subject for so long, as it just wanted it “to go away, not deal with it.”

The service was for those who had experienced sexual abuse, knew someone who has or wanted to express their sorrow and concern about it, was based on what Christians call the Way of the Cross — a series of 14 “stations” — depictions of key moments in the crucifixion and death of Jesus often used as a guide for prayer.

No one who attended stepped forward to identify themselves as a survivor. It’s not known whether any survivors were in the pews.

Archdiocese communications director Daniel Bahuaud, who helped create the service, said he wasn’t aware of any others specifically focusing on survivors.

Bahuaud planned the service with Amber Wsiaki, a member of the archdiocese Safe Church Environment committee. He joined Wsiaki in reading through the stations in English and French through the lens of sexual abuse.

They highlighted the “scourge of abuse by priests, pastors and people in authority.”

“Wounded survivors of abuse bear a heavy cross,” they said, noting it continues to haunt those individuals and their families long after the abuse happened.

Richard Fréchette, who chairs the Safe Church Environment committee, said the service was a way to recognize that “what happened was so wrong.”

The archdiocese has protocols in place to try to prevent it from happening again, said Fréchette, who is also a member of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops national committee for Responsible Ministry and the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons.

“The archdiocese has come a long way,” he said.

LeGatt said the service was an important way to underscore the importance of the issue.

“We need to recognize the depth of suffering that sexual abuse has caused,” he said. “We need to do our part as a church to acknowledge that darkness and deal with it, not try to hide it away.”

The service took place against the backdrop of a lawsuit filed against the archdiocese earlier last week over an allegation of sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in rural Manitoba decades ago. LeGatt noted the service had been planned long before that lawsuit was filed.

“We don’t take any of this lightly,” the archbishop said. “We don’t want to become indifferent to it. This diocese has been marked by it… it is a sickness in the body of humanity.”

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