Bishop Chibley Langlois of Les Cayes, Haiti is ignoring an allegation of child sexual abuse at Pwoje Espwa.

Bishop Langois is a keynote speaker at the Haiti Conference.

Father Marc Boisvert, founder and Executive Director of Pwoje Espwa, can run but he can't hide.

May 19, 2012

Father Marc Boisvert
Founder and Executive Director
Pwoje Espwa                                                                                                                       Les Cayes, Haiti

Dear Father Boisvert,

Child protection advocates from the U.S. are searching for the name and location of the mission retreat you will be attending as part of your "six month sabbatical" from Pwoje Espwa.

We want to ask you face to face why you covered up allegations of child sexual abuse at Pwoje Espwa.

You may have been able to ignore us in Haiti. You can't hide here.

Here are the facts:

You continue to refuse to issue a public report about the incident of inappropriate conduct between an adult and a naked eleven year old boy that occurred at your orphanage in Haiti.

You asked a third party to tell us that some "lawyer" conducted an investigation and no sexual abuse occurred. You won't tell us the lawyers name and credentials.

Your lawyer is not trained to interview child sexual abuse victims with the same skills as a forensic investigator.

You refuse to make the boy's parents or guardian in Haiti aware that child protection advocates from the United States want to speak with them about what happened to their son.

You refuse to issue a copy of your orphanage's  child protection policy and code of behavior. There are 600 Haitian vulnerable children in your care. Just because you say everything's ok doesn't make it so. We want to see for ourselves.

In short, Father Marc Boisvert, you have done everything you can to cover up and whitewash an incident of child abuse.

I gotta tell you, I sincerely hope that the "lawyer" who conducted the child sexual abuse investigation at Pwoje Espwa is not the one and only, Attorney Robert Morris from Portland, Maine.

From the moment we reported that Brother Robert Campbell "scrubbed all over" a naked eleven year old child in the shower, Pwoje Espwa Board Member, Robert Morris, has acted out in the most curious of ways.

In response to concerns about the welfare of the child, Attorney Morris has been defiant, angry, bullying, unresponsive and uncaring.

Is this the response of a healthy and responsible adult? I think not.

One more thing. Those of us who are experienced in the ways of the Catholic Church when it comes to dealing with priest child abusers or those who cover up child abuse are used to Catholic priests being sent on "sabbatical" to remove them from a problem situation.

More often than not, the sabbatical becomes permanent.

It will be interesting to see if you do, indeed, return to Pwoje Espwa in six months.

Meanwhile, I and others will continue to hold you responsible and accountable to the truth.

You can run, Father Boisvert, but you can't hide.

Sincerely,
Paul Kendrick