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Article Category: 2007 January
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Article originally prepared on : 13 January 2007
CALEDONIA -- Fourteen years after allegations of sexualabuse were confirmed, a priest has been removed from activeministry.
David LeBlanc, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church inCaledonia, has admitted to sexually abusing a pre-teen boyin Muskegon in 1971, according to Bishop Walter Hurley.
LeBlanc was serving at St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Churchwhen the alleged incident occurred, but Hurley said it didnot happen at the church.
After talking to LeBlanc and communicating by e-mail withthe victim, who is out of the country, Hurley said he had nochoice but to remove LeBlanc under provisions of the U.S.bishops' charter on sexual abuse issued in 2002. Thepolicy calls for permanently removing priests for a single,substantiated case of sexual abuse of a minor.
"I became aware of it, and I believed I needed to dothat," Hurley said. "I am obligated as a bishop tofollow the requirements of the charter, for the well-beingof the church and protection of victims."
LeBlanc, 71, was permanently removed from active ministrylast week, Hurley said. As such, LeBlanc cannot performpublic ministry, cannot wear clerical clothing and cannotpresent himself as a priest.
Since the bishops' policy took effect, eight otherpriests in the diocese have been removed for abuse casesgoing back decades. Asked why LeBlanc was not removedearlier, Hurley said, "I just don't know theanswer to that."
Most of the priests were removed by retired Bishop RobertRose, who led the diocese from 1989 to 2003. Hurley wouldnot second-guess why the diocese did not remove LeBlanc soonafter he admitted the abuse, saying before the U.S.bishops' policy, "there was no consistency in theway cases were handled (and) there really was no road mappeople could follow."
Rose did not return several calls seeking comment. Hereleased a statement Tuesday morning saying, "Therecent painful decisions announced by Bishop Hurley haveshown once again the determination of our diocesanauthorities to implement fully the (U.S. Bishops) Charterfor the Protection of Children and Young People and therelated norms. May the Church continue to be a leader inassuring a safe environment for all our young people."
Parishioners at Holy Family expressed shock that a priestconnected to their parish has been forced out of the clergyfollowing allegations of sexual abuse of a child.
Parishioners of Holy Family were informed of the decision bya letter sent out Saturday, so they still were unaware afterattending Sunday services.
Parishioner Deborah Haney thought LeBlanc simply was onvacation. She said no one mentioned his removal at Mass onSunday.
"All I knew was religious education classes werecanceled (Monday night), but I didn't think the weatherwas that bad," she said.
One of the diocese's larger parishes with about 1,200families, Holy Family will hold a meeting at 7 tonight withthe Rev. Thomas Page, the diocese's associate vicar forpriests, who will lead members in prayer and answerquestions.
Priests at the other parishes where LeBlanc served are toinform their parishioners. They include Blessed Sacrament,St. Francis Xavier and Holy Spirit in Grand Rapids. Althoughhe has no reason to believe there are other victims, Hurleysaid, "if there are, we would want to know aboutit."
Rose retired a year after the national policy was passed.His successor, Bishop Kevin Britt, died in 2004, and thediocese temporarily was managed by Monsignor William Duncanand Detroit's Cardinal Adam Maida. Given all that,Hurley said, "It's not surprising something likethis may not have been reviewed" before he took office.
Hurley said there are no other allegations beinginvestigated or cases pending to remove a priest in thediocese.
"To the best of my knowledge, this brings to a closewhere we had established or acknowledged cases of sexualabuse," he said.
LeBlanc is the fourth priest with ties to Holy Family whohas been removed from pastoral duties.
In 2002, Michael Walsh, a newly ordained priest who hadworked two summers at Holy Family, was defrocked after40-year-old allegations were discovered. Removed from theirduties at the same time were Donald Heydens, a priest atHoly Family in the mid-1980s who molested four teenage girlsat another parish in the early 1970s, and Dennis Wagner, whosexually abused six boys in the 1980s. Wagner lived at HolyFamily in the mid-1980s while working for the diocese afterpleading no contest to a child molestation charge two yearsearlier.
Hurley said he was not aware of any common thread betweenLeBlanc's case and those of the three other priestsremoved for abuse who once served at Holy Family.
Michael Hollern, who has attended Holy Family as long asLeBlanc was leading the parish, said the connections to hischurch are a sad fluke.
"It may seem strange to some, but I believe it is allcoincidence," said Hollern, also a member of thepastoral council who has high praise for LeBlanc'spastoral performance. "You know, we're allsinners, and God can forgive and forget, but people cannotforgive and forget."
"If he admitted this, it's not the same FatherDave I know," he said.
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