Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet accused of sexual assault
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MONTREAL — Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet is accused of sexual assault in paperwork tabled in Superior Courtroom Tuesday associated to a class-action lawsuit towards the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec.
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An unnamed lady — recognized as “F.” — accused Ouellet of a number of incidents of undesirable touching, together with of sliding his hand down her again and touching her buttocks at a 2010 occasion in Quebec Metropolis.
“That day, greater than throughout earlier conferences, F. understood that she should flee Cardinal Marc Ouellet ⦠the uneasiness she felt was extra current than ever,” the lawsuit mentioned.
The allegations towards Ouellet are a part of a sequence of claims made towards clergy members which are included in two class-action lawsuits towards the church which have been licensed by a choose.
Montreal-based regulation agency Arsenault Dufresne Wee Avocats mentioned in a press release Tuesday that within the first lawsuit, towards the archdiocese of Quebec, about 101 alleged victims have accused about 88 monks or different clergy members of sexual assault.
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec mentioned in a press release on Tuesday it was conscious of the allegations, however it declined to remark.
Within the second lawsuit, towards the Brothers of the Christian Faculties of Francophone Canada, 193 alleged victims have accused 116 members of that group of sexual assault.
The paperwork tabled in courtroom contained the detailed accusations towards the clergy members — together with Ouellet — following the authorization of the category actions.
In accordance with the lawsuit involving Ouellet, F. met the cardinal in 2008 when she was 23 and dealing as a pastoral intern on the Quebec archdiocese. Following a dinner on the Sisters of Charity in Beauport, Que., in August of that 12 months, the cardinal allegedly massaged her shoulders and stroked her again in a convention room, the lawsuit mentioned.
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“F. remained frozen within the face of this intrusion and didn’t know methods to react,” the lawsuit mentioned.
In November of that 12 months, the cardinal allegedly kissed her cheek and hugged her “with familiarity, despite the fact that that they had solely seen one another a couple of times earlier than, and held her firmly towards him, caressing her again along with his fingers.”
And in 2010, throughout an ordination ceremony for a colleague, Ouellet allegedly kissed her cheek, hugged her and “slid his hand alongside F.’s again to her buttocks.”
When she tried to talk out in regards to the cardinal’s alleged actions, F. was informed that Ouellet was “very pleasant” and that she wasn’t the one lady to have that sort of “drawback” with him, based on the courtroom paperwork.
In 2020, after F. participated in sexual assault coaching, she started to have “flashbacks of what she skilled with Cardinal Marc Ouellet,” and she or he understood that the clergyman’s actions “represent non-consensual touching of a sexual nature and subsequently, sexual assault,” the lawsuit mentioned.
The lady wrote a letter to Pope Francis in January 2021 concerning the cardinal, and a month later, she was knowledgeable that the Pope appointed Father Jacques Servais to analyze her allegations.
The courtroom paperwork mentioned that as of summer time 2022, “no conclusion regarding the complaints towards Cardinal Marc Ouellet has been transmitted to F.”
