The victims were all boys.
From here:
Disgraced ex-cleric David Norton’s legal troubles appear to go way beyond the criminal courts.
The former Anglican priest who was convicted Tuesday of four counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault of boys from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation already is facing civil action from another victim in London and a counter-claim from the Diocese of Huron.
The plaintiff in a $4.9-million lawsuit against Norton and the Diocese of Huron is the victim in Norton’s sexual interference conviction registered earlier this year. He was abused by the priest at St. Mark’s parish in the 1990s.
Norton, 72, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced in August to four years in prison.
Just like the rest of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Diocese of Huron likes to trumpet its virtue by participating in Truth and Reconciliation blanket exercises, walks, bicycle rides or, as the Diocese of Niagara so charmingly puts it by: “live[ing] into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action and confront the ways in which it has embodied colonial attitudes.”
Of course, extirpating colonial attitudes is a lot cheaper than $4.9-million, so the Diocese of Huron has decided not to live into taking any responsibility for the abuse, let alone reconciling with the victims. Instead, we have a litany of denials:
In a statement of defence, the diocese denied “each and every allegation in the statement of claim.”
They deny Norton was an employee and they deny they knew about his activities. They also deny the boy was injured.
The diocese has issued a cross-claim against Norton, holding him solely responsible for any liability.
Tanya Phibbs, Archdeacon of the Diocese of Huron, told Global News that the Diocese was “deeply saddened” by the allegations. Not $4.9 million worth of saddened, though.
In fairness the diocese is not responsible. It’s not a state body. It’s not a police force. It’s a voluntary body.
The wrongdoer was not obeying the diocese. He was in fact acting against their wishes as well in what he did. Longer ago, such matters were not taken seriously by the police either.
The reality is that transferring blame from a rascal to the organisation whose trust he betrayed is just a way to get money and power. We’ve seen it used to push the Roman Catholic Church out of a position of influence and to seize its churches.
When does the criminal conviction of sexual assault of one man fail to become the vindication of his boy victim?
When the Diocesan anti-Scriptural Cultural Marxist ‘doctrine’ and practice now postures as ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ for the very same crimes committed “longer ago”.
Rome’s Bridge-Builder in-Chief is at the same ethical crossroads; until one USA Cardinal’s eleven year old boy victim today has come forward, thereby affirming Archbishop Vigano’s fourfold testimony with a further and concurrent pastoral challenge to his fellow Clerics.
Technically, the diocese is right that Norton was not an employee: clergy are generally office holders, but that is splitting hairs.