SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune
By PATRICK M. O'CONNELL
Tribune Staff Writer
Joseph R. Maher, president of the nonprofit organization responsible for this week's mailings soliciting support for the Rev. Paul LeBrun, said Friday he has a moral obligation to help priests accused of sexual misconduct.
Maher, who attended St. Casimir's School in South Bend before his family moved to the Detroit area, now leads Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a Detroit-based group whose name in Latin means "Work for the Good of the Priesthood."
LeBrun, a former Little Flower Catholic Church priest, is on trial in Arizona, where he is accused of eight counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and five counts of child molestation.
Opus Bono mailed about 3,000 letters to Indiana parishioners asking for donations to fund LeBrun's trial defense.
Maher, who says his organization has aided about 2,000 priests since the group began in April 2002, calls the work "a calling from Christ."