Father Joe Leclair Released from Jail

By Meghan Hurley
Ottawa Citizen
November 18, 2014

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/father-joe-leclair-released-from-jail

Father Joe LeClair released from jail

Supporters from Blessed Sacrament church are welcoming Father Joseph LeClair with open arms after his release from jail after serving almost two-thirds of his sentence for stealing more than $130,000 from Sunday collections and church accounts.

Parishioner Frank Licari said he was glad LeClair had finished his sentence and hoped the priest will renew his friendships with people from the church. He said he believes the situation forced LeClair to get the help he needed for addictions.

“He did the crime, he paid the time, and I think he should probably still have quite a large following,” Licari said Tuesday. “There’s never a Sunday where somebody doesn’t ask me or my daughter Joanne about him.”

Joanne Licari said that although years have passed since LeClair left Blessed Sacrament, parishioners continue to miss him and hope he can return as their priest.

Parishioners have also realized, in LeClair’s absence, what a difference he made to the parish, Licari said.

“People often say, ‘Out of sight, out of say out of mind,’ but it’s the opposite,” Licari said. “It’s almost a continual reminder something is missing.”

LeClair was granted a temporary absence by the Ontario Parole Board beginning on Nov. 9 and ending Tuesday.

It means LeClair was released from jail nine days early: He would have been released Tuesday after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

The parole board said in a decision that it granted LeClair a temporary absence from the Central East Region Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., for good behaviour. The board said LeClair’s release poses minimal risk to the public and that his release plan was well structured.

“You have been working on the outside crew for several months and you have done excellent work,” the Ontario Parole Board decision says. “There is much support for you from the employees of the institution.”

The decision also noted that LeClair spent three years in the community before he was sentenced to a year in jail, didn’t breach his release conditions, and attended “extensive counselling.”

“You present as a man remorseful for your actions and the hurt you have caused those close to you,” the decision said.

LeClair was also granted a temporary absence so that he could attend an assessment prior to further treatment at the same institution he went to before he was sentenced on March 19 to a year in jail.

The Archdiocese of Ottawa said Tuesday it would make no statement following LeClair’s release. It re-released Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast’s statement from when LeClair pleaded guilty in January.

In that statement, Prendergast said LeClair’s sentence will be part of his future plans but the archdiocese would work with the disgraced priest and his desire to return to the ministry.

“Despite this difficult decision affecting Father LeClair’s life, I know that he is relieved to have this painful moment behind him,” Prendergast said in the statement. “I share his desire, and that of the many people who supported him over the last two years, to move on and to look to the future.”

LeClair had applied for parole earlier this year after serving one-third of his sentence, but his application was denied on July 8. The parole board said LeClair’s release plan was not specific enough to allow for early parole.