Catholic World News News Feature

Members of Canadian Order Charged In Orphanage Abuse Case November 20, 1996

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland (CWN) - Six members of a men's religious order were charged on Tuesday with sexual and physical abuse of 17 boys at an orphanage in St. John's between 1950 and 1964.

Police said they have begun extradition proceedings for four of the men in the Christian Brothers order living in the United States. All of the accused men now range in age from 59 to 72. The charges come four years after eight other members of the Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel were convicted of abusing children at the Mount Cashel Orphanage during the 1970s.

The latest charges are just one more instance of a series of sexual abuse scandals in Canada that have led to the resignation of an archbishop and lawsuits. Archbishop Alphonsus Penney of Newfoundland resigned in 1990 after an internal investigative panel placed some of the blame for cover-ups of the abuse on him.