SYDNEY, N.S. -
The Pope has appointed a new bishop to a Nova Scotia diocese shaken by allegations that its former religious leader was in possession of child pornography.
In a statement Saturday, the diocese of Antigonish announced that Pope Benedict named Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn to the post, saying he will start in the new year after he wraps up his responsibilities as auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Sault Ste Marie, Ont.
Father Paul Abbass of the Antigonish diocese said he hopes the appointment will help the rural congregations rebuild in the wake of revelations that the former bishop, Raymond Lahey, had been charged with possessing and importing child pornography.
"While our diocese is facing times of challenge and struggle we are also a diocese with a history of deep faith and working together," Abbass said in the statement.
"It is in this spirit that we continue to seek pathways to healing and rebuilding. We are pleased to welcome Bishop Dunn as he joins us on this journey forward."
The Nova Scotia bishop was charged on Sept. 25 - 10 days after he was detained and questioned by Canada Border Services Agency officers at Ottawa airport.
Police said they found hundreds of files and dozens of videos on Lahey's laptop after he arrived in Ottawa on a flight from the United Kingdom, many of them showing young males engaged in sex acts.
Police warrants state that some images show boys as young as eight, though none of the allegations made in the search warrants have been proven in court.
Court documents say border officials flagged Lahey because he was a man travelling alone and his passport showed several trips to Southeast Asia, Germany, Spain and other areas known for child pornography.
One warrant said Lahey told Ottawa police he "had no time for child exploitation, no time for child pornography."
He is alleged to have told one officer he is attracted to young men, aged 20 or 21, and that he had never done anything abusive to a child and would "never have any sexual interest in a person under 18."
Lahey, 69, stepped down as bishop of the diocese in Antigonish, N.S., and has been staying with other priests in Ottawa since he was granted bail Oct. 1.
Two search warrants were used to seize more devices from Lahey's apartment in Sydney, N.S., and his office and home in Antigonish, where he served as bishop for the past six years.
The warrant for his home in Antigonish states that officers seized two cellphones, cassette tapes, cameras, CDs and DVDs, and two computers, while they recovered one computer from his Sydney apartment.
The Antigonish diocese has also been named in a civil lawsuit by a Nova Scotia man who alleges that he was abused by a priest decades ago.
Philip Latimer opted out of a landmark $15-million sexual abuse settlement negotiated by Lahey, arguing that he wants more information on what the church knew at the time of the alleged abuse and if it failed to act on that knowledge.
The settlement, which was certified by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge in September, is intended to compensate anyone who was allegedly and known to have been sexually assaulted by a priest of the Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Antigonish since Jan. 1, 1950.
