Wednesday, May 17
By The Canadian Press
Jesuits pay $1.5 million over abuse
TORONTO (CP)--A Catholic religious order paid $1.5 million this week
to 59 native men who said they were sexually abused by a priest.
Ninety-seven claimed abuse by Rev. George Epoch, a former pastor at
St. Mary's Church on the Nawash reserve in Cape Croker, Ont.
Fifty-nine have received $25,000 payments and $100,000 has been paid
to a community fund. The others' claims are being assessed, said Rev.
Winston Rye, a Jesuit priest who helped negotiate the compensation.
Epoch, who moved to St. Mary's in 1972, made his Bruce Peninsula
church a haven for native boys who had escaped abusive parents. After
the priest left in 1983, some of those boys said he had sexually
abused them.
No charges were laid against Epoch, who died in 1986.
The Jesuits publicly apologized to the band in 1992 and paid it $2.4
million. But the victims sought individual compensation.
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