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Raymond Lahey
Raymond Lahey
Diocese	Antigonish
Installed	5 April 2003
Term ended	26 September 2009
Predecessor	Colin Campbell
Successor	Brian Dunn
Orders
Ordination	13 June 1963
Consecration	3 August 1986
Laicized	2012
Personal details
Born	29 May 1940; St. John's, Newfoundland
Died	10 April 2022 (aged 81); Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nationality	Canadian (from 1949)
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Residence	Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Occupation	former member of clergy

Raymond John Lahey (29 May 1940 – 10 April 2022) was a Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia from 2003 to 2009. Lahey was charged in 2009 with the importation of child pornography. He was suspended from the exercise of his priestly and sacramental functions, resigned as bishop in 2009, and was laicized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Education

Lahey was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, on 29 May 1940. He attended St. Paul University at the University of Ottawa, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in 1961, a Licentiate in Theology (L.Th.) in 1963 and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) (magna cum laude) in 1966.^[1]

He was ordained on 13 June 1963.

Career

Lahey served in both clerical and academic positions first in Newfoundland and Labrador, and later in Nova Scotia.^[1] Evidence later emerged that the principal offender, Bishop Lahey, may have assumed the role of a fixer during the 1989 sexual abuse scandal in St. John's archdiocese in Newfoundland when he served under then-archbishop Alphonsus Liguori Penney.^[2]

Administrator of Holy Cross Parish, Diocese of Grand Falls, Holyrood
Pastor of St. Peter's Parish, Archdiocese of St. John's, Mount Pearl
Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. John's, St. John's
Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Proctor of St. John's College, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Department Head, Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Member of the Senate of Memorial University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Member of the Provincial Religious Education Committee, Newfoundland and Labrador
Served on two Roman Catholic school boards, Newfoundland and Labrador
Served on the Belvedere Orphanage Trust, Newfoundland and Labrador
Vice-Chairman of the Roman Catholic 200th Anniversary Committee, Newfoundland and Labrador (included preparations for the 1984 Papal Visit by Pope John Paul II to the province)

Bishop

Named Bishop of the Diocese of St. George's on 8 July 1986 by Pope John Paul II. Consecrated on 3 August 1986 in Corner Brook.
Named Bishop of Antigonish by John Paul on 5 April 2003.^[3] Installed there on 12 June 2003.
Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on 26 September 2009,^[4] after child pornography was discovered on his laptop.^[5]

Academic contributions

author of studies and articles on theology and church history
contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
member of several scholarly boards, including the American Academy of Religion

Abuse scandal

In 1989, Fr. Kevin Molloy went to former St. John's archbishop Alphonsus Liguori Penney to report that a child had seen pornography at the home of Lahey. These allegations were recounted in 2009 when Bishop Lahey was subsequently arrested for separate allegations involving illicit pornography.^[6]

On 7 August 2009, Lahey announced that the Diocese of Antigonish had reached a $15 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by victims of sexual abuse by diocese priests dating to 1950.^[7] The settlement was approved by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on 10 September 2009.^[8]^[9] In 2012 the diocese satisfied its legal obligations to pay out $15 million to the victims of sexual abuse, after selling a large number of its properties, liquidating the bank accounts of many of its churches, and borrowing $6.5 million from private lenders.^[10]

Criminal charges and laicization

On 15 September 2009, then Bishop Lahey returned to Canada from London with a passport bearing visas from Thailand and other Asian countries.^[11]). At Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport, Canada Border Services Agency officers performed a random search of Lahey's laptop computer and allegedly uncovered "images . . . that were of concern." Lahey was allowed to continue his journey home to Nova Scotia, but the computer was seized. The Ottawa Police Service alleged that a later forensic examination revealed child pornography.^[12]

Lahey pleaded guilty to a charge of "possession of child pornography for the purpose of importation" on 4 May 2011. He requested imprisonment, surrendering his right to bail.^[13] That same day, the Holy See acknowledged the plea and announced that it would continue its own process "which will result in the imposition of the appropriate disciplinary or penal measures".^[14] On 4 January 2012, he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and 24 months of probation. Under Canadian law, time spent in pre-trial detention was credited at a two-to-one rate against a criminal sentence. Lahey’s eight months in pre-trial detention counted as 16 months against his 15-month sentence, and he was discharged on the same day.^[15]^[16]^[a]

On 16 May 2012, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Lahey had been laicized.^[17]

Notes

^ The federal law that allowed judges to give 2-for-1 credit for time spent in pre-trial detention had been repealed in 2010, but applied in Lahey's case because the statute was still in effect when he was charged in 2009.^[15]^[16]

References

^ ^a ^b "SaltWire | Halifax" (PDF). Retrieved 1 October 2009.^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Suspicion about Lahey raised 20 years ago". The Catholic Register. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 05.04.2003" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "Rinunce e Nomine,26.09.2009" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "N.S. bishop wanted on child porn charges". Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
^ Suspicion about Lahey raised 20 years ago Archived 2009-10-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ Ludlow, Jennifer. "More church properties for sale to cover cost of sex-abuse deal". CBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
^ "Court approves $15M church sex-abuse deal". Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
^ "Antigonish Diocese: Sexual Abuse Class Action Lawsuit". McKiggan Hebert - Halifax Personal Injury Lawyers. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
^ "Diocese of Antigonish starts church review". The Chronicle Herald. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
^ Blanchfield, Mike (4 May 2011). "Bishop pleads guilty to importing child pornography". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "SaltWire | Halifax". The Chronicle Herald. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009.
^ "Vatican decries Canadian bishop's actions, offers prayers for diocese". Catholic News Agency. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ "Statement of the Holy See Press Office, 04.05.2011" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Bishop Lahey gets time served for child porn". CBC News. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b Seymour, Andrew (4 January 2012). "Disgraced bishop Raymond Lahey freed for time already served for child porn". Ottawa Citizen.
^ "Vatican laicizes Canadian bishop convicted of importing child porn". National Catholic Reporter. Catholic News Service. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Richard Thomas McGrath	Bishop of St. George's 8 July 1986 – 5 April 2003	Succeeded by David Douglas Crosby
Preceded by Colin Campbell	Bishop of Antigonish 5 April 2003 – 26 September 2009	Succeeded by Brian Dunn