An 82-year-old Roman Catholic priest who served jail time for
sexually molesting two British Columbia girls in the 1970s — who were
both under 16 when the incidents began — has been assisting at an Ottawa
parish for at least the past decade.
Rev. John “Jack” McCann,
whose permission to work in Ottawa was revoked by the Archdiocese of
Ottawa on April 29, is a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary
Immaculate (OMI), which has a residence on Main Street.
At Our
Lady of Mount Carmel parish on St. Laurent Boulevard, McCann had been
filling in for Rev. Stephen Liang while he was away, performing
occasional masses and interacting with parishioners at various socials.
Liang, who has been with the parish for about four years, said McCann
was there when he arrived. Msgr. Kevin Beach, the archdiocese’s vicar
general, confirmed McCann has been in Ottawa for at least 10 years.
McCann’s
religious career is overseen not by the Archdiocese of Ottawa,
according to Beach, but by his religious superior at the OMI, Rev. John
Malazdrewich, who was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
Beach said none of the archdiocese’s records includes any details about
McCann’s criminal past, and he said he can’t be sure if McCann was
granted permission to practise occasional ministry by the archdiocese.
“I
don’t know what permission he was given back then, but I can tell you
today that any priest from any origin who is here requires faculties
before they can do ministry,” Beach said.
“Faculties” is official
permission granted by the archdiocese.
In 1992, McCann pleaded
guilty to molesting two girls and was sentenced to 10 months in jail.
His relationship with one of the girls, which began when she was in her
early teens, lasted until she was nearly 20 years old. The offences took
place while McCann was a priest at St. Augustine’s parish in Vancouver
and St. Peter’s parish in New Westminster.
One of his victims,
Leona Munnalall, told the Vancouver Sun in 1994 how McCann lured her
into near-daily sex, starting at the age of 13. Munnalall went public
because she believed it would help the Catholic Church face up to sex
abuse by priests.
She went to police with her complaints against McCann
after hearing he had been transferred to a Catholic parish on Saltspring
Island, where she feared someone else might be victimized.
At the
time of his conviction, McCann was reported to have been terminated
from parish ministry. Beforehand, he had served as parish priest in
Nootka from 1959 to 1963, in Lethbridge from 1963 to 1970, in Fort St.
John from 1981 to 1983, in Edmonton from 1984 to 1990, and on Saltspring
Island from August 1990 until October 1990.
Liang of Mount Carmel said Friday that he had no idea about McCann’s past.
“The
archdiocese was just informed themselves on Friday, the 29th of April,”
Liang said. “It was news to them, too. They had no idea, as far as I
can tell, of his background, of his previous criminal conviction of
sexual assault in the 1990s, so they were just as surprised as myself.”
Liang
said McCann’s work at Mount Carmel parish — made up of mainly elderly
parishioners — did not include contact with children.
“The parishioners
seemed to get along well with him, as far as I know, and I haven’t had
any complaints, major complaints of any misconduct on his part, so it
hadn’t come to my attention,” Liang said.
“It comes to me as a
really big shock … Why wasn’t I made aware of his background, because
I’m responsible as a pastor, the parish priest here, for this parish’s
welfare and of my parishioners. It certainly would have been extremely
helpful if I knew of his background. He wouldn’t even have been able to
officiate as a priest in any ministry in the archdiocese of Ottawa if my
superiors knew about it. They would have not allowed him to step in
here in the first place.”
McCann’s whereabouts were revealed by
the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a U.S.-based support
and advocacy group that investigated after receiving a tip from “a
concerned Canadian.”
The organization, known as SNAP, is calling
on Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast to immediately suspend McCann
and alert every parish where he has worked about his criminal record.