Quebec Catholic monks face class actions over decades of alleged sexual abuse

An order of Catholic monks that once ran up to 80 schools in Canada's Quebec province was hit Friday with accusations of sexual assaults over decades.

In a class action, more than 87 victims have come forward with allegations against the Brothers of Christian Instruction that date as far back as 1940. Several of the monks are now deceased.

In court documents, the accusers detail assaults at more than 20 schools run by the Brothers across the province of Quebec.

Most occurred between the 1950s and 1970s, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs told AFP.

"The plaintiffs allege in particular that the congregation was aware of the Brothers' sexual assaults on children, but that it preferred to move and protect the attackers rather than help the victims," they said in the court filings.

The lead plaintiff, a man identified only by his initials M.J., accused one of the monks, Brother Charles, of twice sexually assaulting him starting when he was 13 years old at Sainte-Bernadette-Soubirous school in Montreal between 1960 and 1961.

He said Brother Charles, who was in charge of the student body, approached him from behind in class, and tried to put his hand down the boy's pants.

On another occasion, the monk allegedly grabbed the boy by his sweater during a singing practice and tried to force him to touch his genitals.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of another class action that included an accusation that an influential Canadian cardinal sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the late 1980s.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec and a member of the pope's so-called C9 advisory council of nine cardinals, has denied the accusation.

(AFP)