Ditched executives get huge severances.

Departing CEO's (Chief Executive Officers) leave with severance packages in millions of dollars for even small periods of work. For example: Ed Tyler, Moore Corp., April '98-Dec 2000: $26.4M (US); Stephen Bachand, Can. Tire, March '93-Aug 2000: $27.l M (Cdn); Paul Walters, Sears Canada, Nov '96-Jan '01: $6.2M (Cdn); William Fields, Hudson's Bay, June '97-Feb '99: $6.3M (Cdn); George Watson, Trans Canada Pipe, April '94-July '99: $5.2M (Cdn).

For the year 2000, Nortel's CEO, John Roth, retiring in March 2001, received $135M (US), that is 11M minimum salary plus 124M by cashing in stock options provided by his company.

As for regular salaries, the CEO's of Canada's six largest banks earn between $15 and $25 million, including stock options. What is one to think of this? (Globe, Post).

More scandals

In Windsor Father Cameron MacLean (57) was sentenced to a two-year term in jail for sexually abusing eight boys who were members of his former parishes (Windsor Star, Feb. 8).

In Toronto a group of former altar boys have launched a $32 million lawsuit against the Archdiocese, alleging the Church and a parish priest failed to protect them from sexual abuse. This case seems open to challenge. The alleged abusers were a photographer and a janitor, the latter now deceased. The photographer was convicted by a jury in 1998, a judgement set aside in 1999, with the charges dismissed in a new trial in October 2000. The janitor, age 77, died before the trial was held. The lawsuit charges that the Church has a "fiduciary duty" to protect the altar boys, and that Church officials knew, or ought to have know, that such abuse was going on (Toronto Star, March 24/01).

A few days earlier, on March 20, the Vatican acknowledged a damning report that some priests and missionaries forced nuns to have sex and, in some cases, were forcing the victims to have abortions. This news was broadcast throughout the world including by Canadian media.

The Vatican said the issue was restricted to a certain geographical area (Africa), yet the Church-documented report also mentioned a number of other countries. The 1996 report was drawn up by Sister-physician Maura O'Donohue and backed up by other religious authorities. In one place some 29 sisters became pregnant and when the religious superior complained to her bishop, he dismissed her from her post. One surely would like to know what "steps" the Vatican has taken with respect to this man.

The story was broken by the National Catholic Register of Kansas on March 16. To put this report in perspective, one should remember that there are over 400,000 priests in the world.