Former spokesman for Canadian bishops arrested on child-porn charges

December 24, 2012

Deacon William Kokesch, a former director of communication services of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been arrested on charges of making child pornography.

Kokesch and another bishops’ conference official were entrusted with coordinating the Canadian presence in the 2005 World Youth Day. In 2002, Kokesch was one of nine Americans and Canadians who drafted a North American pastoral plan for vocations.

Upon learning of Kokesch’s arrest, the Archdiocese of Montreal suspended him from ministry. “Child pornography is an affront to human dignity, and our first concern rests with those who are its victims,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

 

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Further information:

• Catholic deacon charged with making and distributing child pornography after police seize 2,000 images from his Montreal home (National Post)
• Communiqué of the Archdiocese of Montreal (Archdiocese of Montreal)
• World Youth Day 2005: CCCB Ensures National Coordination (CCCB, 2005)
• Conversion, Discernment, Mission: Fostering a Vocation Culture in North American (CCCB, 2002)