Scallen found guilty Continued from Pigs I ordered the teenage nuns living at the religious retreat to strip in rent of him as penance for sin was a high light of Scallen a eight hours on the stand Ho began last Monday afternoon by telling the court about his life leading up to the time he decided to devote himself to religion and on Wednesday and Thursday gave details of his life as first Brother Dan and later Father Benedict During the first week of his trial three young women told of their life as nuns with and how he made them strip In front of him as penance denied this pointing the finger of blame at another former nun SO yearold divorcee Anna Drozdz of Brdntford He claimed it was Mrs Drozdz who made the girls strip and also forced them to perform other harsh penances Scallen said he demoted Mrs from prioress or Mother Superior after he found out what she was doing to the girls in her charge Mrs performed secretarial duties following her demotion he said until March 1976 when he told her she must leave the retreat Scallen testified he expelled her from the convent after she propositioned him A prosecution witness Mrs Drozdz had earlier testified she repeatedly to be leved of duties as prioress because of irregularities in the way ran the convent She denied ordering the girls strip and they sup ported her testimony Mrs also said she wasn spurned by Father Bene dict since she never ap proached him sexually When she left the monastery she said she went to Monroe Centre Wisconsin to report the irregularities to Father Joseph the man who ordained Scallen She test that while the shrine in Wisconsin she saw the sun spin on its axis like a top and viewed clouds turning red and green Quotes canon law Twice divorced spent much of his time on the stand quoting canon law in his bid to show he believes he a a validly ordained poman Catholic priest He learned much about canon law while arranging the annulment of his first marriage to a war bride The annulment came through in 1970 He delved further into canon law while trying to decide If he should become a priest Scallen testified it was Bishop Joseph who said he should become a priest and told him he had all the qualifications was ordained as a pnest and shop in the SyroAntlochan Rite and Is a member of the Old Catholic Church a group of former Catholics who broke away from the church in the late He said he resisted Rauber suggestions he should become a priest pointing out that a person t approach such a life lightly However with his second marriage and agricultural research project in a shambles he felt he should devote himself to religion and began by researching the changes in the Catholic church after Vatican II He testified he met many people who didn t like the new mass which was brought in to replace the old Latin mass and he found many sup porters who opposed other changes in the Roman Catho lic Church as well At about the same time he joined with others in Brant ford in fighting the introduction of mixed sex education classes in separate schools During the early stages of his religious studies following his divorce in 1972 started both the Marion Press and Marion Foundation The Marlon Press was a series of bulletins and newspapers he published and mailed out all over North America in which he discussed various issues in the Catholic Church The Marion Foundation was to turn his Fifth Line property into a park and shrine to Catholicism He met when the man who eventually ordained Scallen took issue with his defence of the Pope in an Issue of the Marlon Press Scallen said Uie changes In the church are the Bishops fault and not the Pope said while he knew was Old Catholic Church he learned through studying canon law the Bishops authority was still good and his ordination by would be valid His second unannuled marriage was no either since by divorcing him she had surrendered any claim While was per suasive said be wanted more proof that he should become a priest He sought the advice of Veronica a visionary In New York who both he and his followers knew and believed Miraculous Picture Shows Way Veronica Informed him a miraculous picture of a statue of the Virgin Mary was taken with a Polaroid camera and it would contain the divine There were three lights on the statue but in the picture only two showed The third light was replaced by a brilliant host The host was supposedly the sign that Scallen should become a priest This was the sign he was waiting for and after re ceiving the message from Veronica gave up his protests against ordination On December 18 1974 he was ordained deacon subdeacon priest and abbot by Rauber Since then he has agreed with the church that Veronica Isn t authentic The fact he was ordained to so many posts in one day was very unusual prosecution Most Rev Paul Reding bishop of Hamilton diocese and Father Harvey Roach said earlier in the while testifying wasnt a Roman Catholic priest Ordained abbot Father Benedict as his parishioners and nuns knew him told the court he was ordained an abbot at suggestion since they both knew there would be opposition to his ordination by the local bishop and as an abbot he be under the jurisdiction of the bishop He said he had jurisdiction over all who went to him and said he could even ordain Owen The convent He built a chapel in the retreat and began masses with as many as people Later he Mrs Drozdz and Betty Van Gerwen another nun who did not testify were joined by Theresa Mac- donald the teenage daughter of one of his parishioners and niece of a couple who gave him to help pay taxes and other bills for the retreat The court was told Scallen posted bills in the church for all to see The girl who Is now married was later joined by her sister and an Patsy Kennedy whose parents gave him Both the nuns and their parents told the court during the first week of the trial that they believed Scallen was a Roman Catholic priest and wouldn t have given money or become Involved with him had they thought otherwise The girls claimed they leave the retreat once they got there but he countered the girls were sent to him with their parents permission and could leave The nuns took vows and at the height of activity at his monastery there were five nuns and one brother A Sister Mary and a Brother Joseph still live at the retreat with Scallen Was moving Not long before the June 1977 police raid on the retreat Scallen said he and his community were planning to leave Hal ton Hills He said his supporters were going to purchase seres near Kingston and had gone to the local Bishop and received no opposition to their plans He wanted the Benedictines of Mary Immaculate to relocate since there was traffic on the road all day men stopping and bothering the nuns while they were outside and no privacy because his convent was on the Bruce Trail After the raid he and the community moved to Brant ford and when refused to join the others In dissolving the retreat the McDonalds seized many of his religious articles and sent him back to he claimed Marilyn and Jimmy His miraculous pictures got him into hot water under crossexamination and the memories of long dead movie star Marilyn Monroe and former United States team ster boss Jimmy Hoffa were raised at the trial took pictures with a Polaroid camera and reading religious messages into them earlier witnesses had testified The nuns said Scallen told them pictures he showed them meant if they dldnt become nuns they would go to hell and be raped when they returned home Owen showed a number of pictures he or the nuns had taken pointing to various notations he had made on them admitted he wrote a likeness of Marilyn Monroe on one of the pic tures He said the face of the famous actress appeared In the flowers around the altar in his church in the photo graph Another showed two people with a while ball between them but he wouldn say any of the pictures were miraculous although they might be He said the nuns had lied about the pictures and denied having made interpretations of what the various photo graphic oddities meant Scallen did admit he had taken photographs which showed things as as flying saucers While still discussing miraculous pictures with Owen Scallen said he had in an image in a picture sent to him by Veronica and this led lo talks with both the OPP and FBI regarding the disappearance of Hoffa Trick pictures He told Owen he bought old film because it was cheaper and not because it would play tricks Later in the trial a policeman who is a hobby photographer showed a number of pictures to the Continued on Page Missed Your Free Press Please Let Us Know Our carriers do their best to give fast courteous service but mistakes do happen so it you do not receive your paper or have any complaints regarding delivery please call our office 8532010 INOWINNERWEEKOFJUNE14 UNTERSEEBOOTE ZEHN ZEHN COMBINATIONENI SERVIEREN NUR FLEISCH UND KXSE VON KANADAS BERUHMTE FLEISCH HANDLER SCHNEIDERSI IN DEM UNTERSCHIED DER SCHMECKEN KANN CHICKEN PIZZA 29 MILL STREET EAST The Acton Free Press Wednesday June Board seeks advice Members of Halton Hills Library Board concerned about protection to volunteers on library business will seek answers from an insurance representative It was noted that suggested Insurance coverage on both the Acton and Georgetown libraries teemed inadequate in view of the fact contents had doubled in the past four years TAKE AOVANTAQE OF S CONTINUING SALE WITH OFF ALL IN STOCK NOT ALREADY REDUCED ALSO MANY ITEMS TURED AT TO 60 REDUCTIONS SISTER MARY JOHN in prayer at the front of the Benedictines of Mary Immaculate convent on the Fifth Line just north of Denis Scallen who ran the retreat was convicted Friday night on three counts of fraud HALTON HILLS COMMUNITY LEGAL CLINIC Y BUILDING ACTON 8532400 or 8775256 Appointments made thru the week Community Legal worker available for drop ins Thursdays 1 to 5 END OF MONTH SPECIALS FROM ALLOW WEEKS FOR DELIVERY DRUC MART 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