Hills, of Guelph, said that while the court sentence brought, “a bit of closure” to the prolonged trauma, he was dismayed Marshall has not been defrocked.
“And the reason I feel badly about that is that there are so many good priests in the Catholic Church and there are so many good practising Catholics and this is an embarrassment to (all of) those good people,” he told The Catholic Register.
Windsor resident Patrick McMahon, whose allegations of abuse resulted in the first charge brought against Marshall, told the court that the priest, “violated my trust, my faith, my self-respect and my innocence.”
Marshall was not only McMahon’s school principal but a close family friend who often stayed with the family on vacation. McMahon told the court: “You abused me in Sault Ste. Marie in the priests’ residence of St. Mary’s College High School where your Basilian order’s motto was displayed for all to see: ‘Teach me Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge.’ ”
McMahon told said he no longer adheres to his faith, saying, “The Church and (Marshall’s) order and the school boards enabled him and on certain occasions covered for him. It’s just impossible to have any belief in anything they teach.”
Cathy Cada, a retired Windsor elementary principal whose students attended a high school where Marshall was principal, said every Catholic needs to hear about this “because it shows the magnitude of what this behaviour does to people and their faith.”
The victims suffered a range of psychological issues, addictions and some experienced job loss and marriage breakup.
In a statement, Basilian spokesman Fr. Timothy Scott expressed the order’s “deep shame.” “These criminal acts against children are a violation of our religious vows and are grievously sinful.”
The order has had policies since 1991 to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct. The Basilians have paid for victims’ psychological counselling.
Rob Talach, a London, Ont. lawyer who represents 10 abuse victims, told The Register that one civil lawsuit is already underway, “and I expect to get instructions to commence more in the coming weeks.”
Talach said defendants could include the Basilians and related school boards and could extend to dioceses or archdioceses.
Marshall sentenced to two years in prison
By Ron Stang, Catholic Register SpecialWINDSOR, ONT. - Father William Hodgson Marshall was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually abusing 16 boys and one girl in Ontario high schools while he was a teacher, coach and principal from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s.
Marshall, 88, was also given three years probation and his name will be added to the national sex offender registry. He pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault that occurred in schools and private residences, from Windsor to Toronto, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.
For the victims, it was an emotional two days in Superior Court where the priest pled guilty prior to numerous victims giving pre-sentence statements.
Ken Hills, one of Marshall’s earliest victims, was abused at Toronto’s St. Michael’s High School in 1953. His assault occurred in an office by the gymnasium where Marshall coached basketball.
“You began stalking me when I was in Grade 8,” he told the court. “This predatorial action continued through grades nine and ten and eleven.”
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