Film screening brings together bishops, abuse survivors

The screening of a documentary film about an Ontario priest who preyed on children for decades brought together bishops and survivors of clerical abuse in Cornwall, Ont., last week.

Prey focuses on Father William Hodgson "Hod" Marshall, a priest and teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 17 children in Toronto, Windsor and Sudbury, crimes dating back to the early 1950s.

The film premiered in April at Toronto's Hot Docs festival, where Bishop Thomas Dowd of the Archdiocese of Montreal first saw it.

Dowd, who was among five bishops at the Cornwall screening, said attending the premiere was a powerful experience because he got to speak with victims and their family members.

"To start to build that bridge and hear people's stories, that was really important for me," Dowd told Ottawa Morning's Robyn Bresnahan on Tuesday. 

Disappointing turnout

Bob McCabe drove from Guelph, Ont., to attend the Cornwall screening, which was scheduled to coincide with an annual gathering of Canadian bishops. Two years ago, McCabe successfully sued the Catholic church for the abuse he experienced as a child in Cornwall, becoming one of the first people in Canada to do so. 

McCabe told Ottawa Morning more than 90 bishops were invited to attend the screening, and though he was pleased to see five there, he'd hoped for a better turnout.

"I was kind of saddened by that, that we didn't get more," he said. 

I lost everything in my life.- Bob McCabe

McCabe was 11 years old in 1963 when he was sexually abused by his family's priest. When he was older, his addictions took over.

"I lost everything in my life," he said. "I don't know if I'd be an alcoholic if the abuse never took place, but it certainly added fuel to the fire. It took away the pain of that trauma, which I buried deep."

As part of his own healing, McCabe went to the gravesite of the priest who'd abused him, where he read out a letter of forgiveness.

"I needed to do that in order to be free of it so he doesn't live in my head anymore," McCabe said. 

Dialogue key

While in Cornwall for the film screening, McCabe visited the site of the motel where his abuse took place. The building is no longer there, but the motel's old sign still stands. 

The eastern Ontario city community gained infamy in the 1990s when dozens of people came forward with allegations that they were abused as children and teenagers by priests, probation officers, lawyers and other men in positions of power and trust in the community. The alleged abuse dated back four decades, and there were even claims that children were passed from one abuser to another by a ring of child molesters.

Ensuing police investigations found no evidence of a ring of abusers. Many of the accused had their charges stayed due to court delays, while others died, some by suicide. A few were punished with significant jail time.

A public inquiry examined how public institutions including police, the church and the Children's Aid Society dealt with the allegations, and in December 2009 came up with a long list of recommendations.

Listening to McCabe speak on Ottawa Morning, Dowd said he was moved by his story. 

"The human trauma is just unbelievable. Sometimes it leaves me speechless, quite honestly," Dowd said.

McCabe believes dialogue is key. "We need to sit at a table, and I'd take your call any day," he told Dowd. "To have victims and survivors and clerics sit down to find a solution to this."