Tignish-Born Priest Faces Fraud, Laundering Charges

The Guardian
July 4, 2012

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2012-07-04/article-3023112/Tignishborn-priest-faces-fraud-laundering-charges/1

Father Joseph LeClair

A popular Ottawa priest born and raised in Tignish, P.E.I. has been charged with a variety of offences involving missing funds at his Ontario parish.

An 11-month police investigation into missing money at Blessed Sacrament Church has resulted charges involving fraud, theft, money laundering and breach of trust charges against the parish's former pastor, Rev. Joseph LeClair.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that the investigation found that more than $240,000 was allegedly misappropriated by LeClair through cheques issued by the priest on church accounts. Another $160,000 of parish funds is unaccounted for, said police.

In addition, approximately $20,000 in furniture and household items belonging to the parish went missing from the rectory when LeClair left to undergo addictions treatment.

After his arrest Tuesday, LeClair, 55, was released on a promise to appear notice. He is scheduled to appear in court July 25 when he will face four charges: fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000, criminal breach of trust, and laundering the proceeds of crime.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast called the news a "sad day for our local Church in Ottawa."

"Many people, in our Catholic community and beyond, will be hurt and disappointed by this news. The events concerning Fr. LeClair which have come to light over the past year have obliged us to review our expectations of priests, as well as our care of them," Prendergast wrote.

"We have been reminded that we priests are in a position of trust with respect to the people whom we pastor. That trust includes proper and transparent administration of money and other temporal goods given to us by parishioners and other donors. The events of the past year have also led our archdiocese to institute a new protocol for the financial administration of our parishes. The protocol calls for greater controls, accountability and review."

Prendergast also asked for prayers for Blessed Sacrament parishioners who "have been particularly burdened and pained by what has happened over the last year."

An immensely popular and dynamic priest, LeClair has always denied taking money from church coffers.

In January, in response to the incident at Blessed Sacrament, the Archdiocese of Ottawa introduced a strict financial protocol to govern the handling of parish monies. The protocol introduced checks and balances to ensure donations are properly collected, spent and accounted for by church officials.

Last fall, hundreds of parishioners gathered at Blessed Sacrament to urge the Archbishop not to hand the case to police. They argued that LeClair had been let down by the church hierarchy and should be forgiven by the Catholic community that he served so faithfully.

He resigned as pastor in late May of last year and went to a specialized addictions treatment program in Aurora. He has been on sabbatical ever since.