Joseph Marcel Lessard
Father Joseph Lessard arrived in the Diocese of Rockford in 1987. The letter from the Diocese of Phoenix introducing him said nothing about the reason he could no longer stay in Arizona—a conviction for sexually abusing a boy less than two years earlier. Documents in the Diocese of Rockford’s files indicate it was aware of Lessard’s past yet took him in anyway. It allowed him to work as a hospital chaplain and also live in the rectory of a parish where he assisted with communion. Private notes quote Bishop Arthur O’Neill of Rockford providing a chilling justification for accepting Lessard despite his criminal conviction for child sex abuse: “We have to take some in since we have some too.”
In December 1987, Bishop Thomas O’Brien of Phoenix wrote about Lessard to Bishop O’Neill of Rockford. Bishop O’Brien, who would later admit to a Phoenix prosecutor that he knowingly transferred clergy accused of abuse, began the letter as if the two men had already started a conversation about the wayward priest: “I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that Rev. Joseph Lessard has my permission to work at the Mercy Center for Health Care Services in Aurora, Illinois.” Bishop O’Brien continued: “I trust that you have been briefed by Rev. Hoffmann concerning the circumstances why Fr. Lessard cannot work in this Diocese.” A handwritten note on the copy of this letter kept in the Diocese of Rockford’s internal files states simply: “Yes.” Bishop O’Brien closed his letter by telling Bishop O’Neill that “considering these circumstances, I appreciate you affording Father Lessard this opportunity to continue his priestly ministry.”
What were these cryptic “circumstances”? In 1986, Lessard had been arrested in Arizona for sexually abusing a 13 year old boy, reportedly while the boy’s parents slept in a room next door. Bishop O’Brien was well-aware of this fact. According to news reports on court proceedings, he told investigators he knew of the incident but refused to cooperate because, he claimed, Lessard had spoken about it to him in a confessional setting. Instead, Bishop O’Brien reportedly wrote a letter to the judge in Lessard’s case requesting leniency. And indeed, Lessard’s crime was downgraded to a misdemeanor and he was sentenced to just three years of probation. Now, Bishop O’Brien was seeking to ship Lessard off to the Diocese of Rockford without explicitly explaining why—or at least without doing so in his formal communications.
Bishop O’Neill responded to Bishop O’Brien’s letter that same month by confirming he had discussed Lessard’s “background” with Hoffman, his vicar for clergy. From there, Lessard appears to have gone to work as a chaplain at Mercy Center in Aurora. He lived at the rectory of Holy Angels, also in Aurora.
But nearly six years later, in autumn 1993, Bishop O’Brien was facing a crisis in Phoenix. A local priest had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his sexual abuse of nearly two dozen children, and the family of one abused child was reportedly considering litigation against the diocese. That November, Bishop O’Brien wrote Bishop O’Neill again. He said he had been “reviewing” Lessard’s “situation,” including letters and calls with a Rockford pastor and a nun at Mercy Center. “They inform me that precautions are taken to avoid any association with children and young teens,” Bishop O’Brien wrote, adding that a psychological evaluation of Lessard reported that “he will never again act out sexually with a minor.” “The fact that a number of people are aware of his situation” was helpful, Bishop O’Brien concluded. “Father Lessard could benefit from periodic affirmation.”
The Diocese of Rockford’s files do not contain any response from Bishop O’Neill, whose tenure as bishop ended the following year in 1994. However, after Bishop Thomas Doran took over, his administration appears to have become alarmed—at least privately—about Lessard’s presence in the diocese. Rockford’s vicar general wrote a letter in July 1994 to Hoffman—the priest who years before had briefed Bishop O’Neill on Lessard’s “circumstances.” The vicar explained “[a] matter of some importance has surfaced in the Aurora area” and “[t]here is a need to know what Bishop O’Brien meant when he referred to you knowing the circumstances as to why Father Lessard could not continue in the Diocese of Phoenix.”
Handwritten notes attached to the letter appear to reflect a subsequent conversation between the vicar general and Hoffman. The notes state Lessard “began treatment in home dioc[ese] + was cleared to seek outside job; as [Bishop] O’Neill said, ‘We have to take some in since we have some too.’” In other words, it was only fair for the Diocese of Rockford to provide refuge to child-abusing priests without informing the public—perhaps because there already were such priests living in the diocese, or perhaps because it too wished to unload its problem priests onto other dioceses.
It seems Lessard himself soon caught wind of the new bishop’s growing awareness of his presence in the diocese. He wrote Bishop Doran in August 1994 that “it is necessary that I discuss with you the personal matters which brought me to your diocese.” Lessard noted that he had “been ministering in your diocese for seven years,” including assisting the pastor and associate pastor at Holy Angels “on a regular basis.” A memorandum about Lessard’s August 1994 meeting with Bishop Doran indicates Lessard was allowed to continue ministering as a chaplain at the Mercy Center and living at the Holy Angels rectory. Lessard agreed to sell a condominium he owned by the end of the year, which the memo stated “is meant to preempt any insinuation of objectionable behavior.” The memo insisted there had “been no untoward incidents involving Father Lessard” but did not reference the existence of any investigation or other inquiry. Lessard also had to sign a form in December 1995 indicating that he would abide by the diocese’s sexual misconduct norms.
In early 2001, Bishop Doran informed Bishop O’Brien that Lessard had resigned from his chaplaincy at Mercy Center and had until the end of March to leave his residence in the diocese. The Rockford bishop did not explain what had happened; he simply said he hoped Lessard would contact the Phoenix bishop “with a further explanation.” The following year, Lessard was permanently removed from the ministry—27 years after the disgraced priest’s conviction for sexually abusing a 13 year old boy.