Raymond Lahey, former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is expected to enter a plea on child pornography charges on Feb. 3.Raymond Lahey, former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is expected to enter a plea on child pornography charges on Feb. 3. (CBC)

Sunday marked the last mass for Catholics in Antigonish, N.S., before their new bishop is installed on Monday.

Brian Dunn will replace retired bishop Raymond Lahey, who is facing child pornography charges.

Dunn is well aware of the challenges ahead, said church spokesman Rev. Paul Abbass.

"Obviously he recognizes that this is just a critical time, a difficult time, a challenging time and he's wanting more to discover where people are and what people are feeling than to come in kind of ready to change all kinds of things," Abbass said.

"I think he's approaching it with some caution and some appreciation of the concerns that we have."

'So the bishop comes, I think, to be a sign of hope, a new bishop, at the very same time that we're trying to turn a corner on the past situation with the abuse.'—Rev. Paul Abbass, church spokesman

Dunn has already spent about a week getting familiar with the diocese, Abbass said.

"We've been briefing him on the complexities of our present situation, giving him a sense of, you know, there's so many issues … legal settlement issues, as well as just diocesian issues," he said.

"So the bishop comes, I think, to be a sign of hope, a new bishop, at the very same time that we're trying to turn a corner on the past situation with the abuse."

Dunn 's last post was as auxiliary bishop in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. He is originally from Newfoundland and Labrador

An installation ceremony will be held Monday at St. Ninian's Cathedral in Antigonish.

Lahey, 69, who is facing charges of importing and possessing child pornography, is expected to enter a plea in Ottawa on Feb. 3.

He stepped down as bishop of the diocese in September, before the charges against him became public — and just weeks after announcing a $15-million settlement between the diocese and dozens of sexual abuse victims.

On Sept. 15, Lahey was detained at the Ottawa airport after border officials said they found what they suspected were pornographic images of young males on his laptop computer. He was released at the time, then charged 10 days later after investigators confirmed several of the subjects were underage.

Lahey has been living in a priest's residence run by the archdiocese of Ottawa since he was granted bail on Oct. 1.