Alleged victim of sexual assault seeks records from Vatican's representative in Canada
CBC
A B.C. man who claims he was sexually assaulted as a high school seminarian plans to appear in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday to seek records from the Vatican's representative in Canada about the monk who he claims abused him.
Mark O'Neill wants the court to order the official — known as the Apostolic Nuncio — to give him investigation records and correspondence about allegations of sexual misconduct at the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission.
The application follows the emergence in O'Neill's case of an anonymous letter allegedly sent decades ago to the former head of the abbey that runs the seminary, warning about the now-deceased Benedictine monk at the heart of the lawsuit.
The letter from "former seminarians" claimed Harold Vincent Sander — known as Father Placidus — was "known to have been involved in homosexual activities" with high school students" and suggested "he should be removed from close proximity with minor seminarians."
O'Neill is suing the seminary and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver as well as Sander's estate and one of the seminary's former college students, who O'Neill claims sexually assaulted him while supervising an overnight field trip in the late '70s.
The fitness trainer is one of three former students who testified against Sander in a criminal case that saw the monk acquitted of sexual assault in December 1997.
The Apostolic Nuncio is considered as a kind of ambassador for the Vatican.
In the court application, O'Neill's lawyer claims the anonymous letter that raised concerns about Sander was sent via the Apostolic Nuncio in May 1987 — 10 years before Sander went on trial.
The application says the warning "was presumably never disclosed to the police or the Crown" despite the former abbot and the "Apostolic Nunciature having full knowledge of its existence and the possibility of other victims."
"There is undoubtedly more beneath the surface of these letters," the application reads.
"A gross miscarriage of justice resulted."
According to the Apostolic Nunciature's website, an Apostolic delegation was established in Canada in 1899 and a Nuncio was first appointed in 1969.
The Apostolic Nuncio is described in O'Neill's application as the official presence of the Pope in Canada, advising and working with Canadian bishops "in addition to serving as a diplomat on behalf of the Vatican."
A letter sent to the court from Global Affairs Canada earlier this month says the current Apostolic Nuncio, Ivan Jurkovic, enjoys diplomatic immunity — as do the archives of his office.
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