Top court skirts church liability for sex assaults

London, Ontario -

Three dozen former altar boys sexually abused by a Newfoundland priest can sue the local Roman Catholic diocese as well as the man who assaulted them, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday. But the judgment failed to settle another question with far more sweeping legal ramifications -- whether the church as a whole can be held liable for such wrongdoing.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, writing for a unanimous nine-member bench, said the contending parties simply hadn't presented enough facts to resolve that issue.

"The record before us is too weak to permit the court . . . to responsibly embark on the important and difficult question of whether the Roman Catholic Church can be held liable," wrote McLachlin.

Whether an entire religious denomination can be sued is a key issue in thousands of abuse claims by former aboriginal students at church-run residential schools.

Read the article at London Free Press dated 2004-03-26

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