French court convicts Canadian priest of sexual assault

A Canadian priest who served in three different Canadian dioceses from 2010 to 2013 has been convicted by a French court in the 2019 sexual assault of four teenage girls in France and Italy.

A statement from the Legionaries of Christ said the assaults occurred during pastoral group activities. In three of the cases, according to the congregation, Fr. Denis Tassé placed his hands on the girls’ chests, while in the fourth case he placed his hands on the girls’ buttocks.

The Criminal Court of Bordeaux, France, sentenced Tassé to a 10-month suspended prison sentence, a 10-year ban from working with minors and an order to register his home address with French authorities for the rest of his life.

A release by the Diocese of Calgary said that Tassé served in the diocese, as well as in the Hamilton and Alexandria-Cornwall dioceses, between 2010 and 2013. It added that he periodically served in Clear Water Academy and at summer camps of Regnum Christi in Calgary.

Tassé was born in Cornwall in 1977. Prior to moving to France in 2015, he had worked in Mexico and the United States.

The Calgary diocese is asking anyone with any information regarding sexual abuse or misconduct by the priest to contact Calgary police, 0abuse.org or the diocese.