“Father Ronald Léger defrocked after sex assault plea” & related article

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16 July 2015

CBC

A former Winnipeg priest has been formally defrocked from the Catholic Church after he pleaded guilty to sex assault earlier this week.

Ronald Léger, the former head of Holy Family Parish and founder of Teen Stop Jeunesse, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference on July 13.

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Boniface stripped Ronald Léger of his rights to represent the ministry.

“You are definitively no longer authorized to exercise a public ministry in our Archdiocese of Saint Boniface,” Albert LeGatt, the Archbishop of St. Boniface, said in a release.

The charges brought against the 77-year-old relate back to a series of incidents that occurred between 1984 and 2004. The interference charge was leveled against Léger because one of the victims was under the age of 16.

Léger is expected to be sentenced early next week. His name will be added to the national sex offender registry.

Léger was arrested earlier in 2014 after three males between the ages of nine and 18 came forward. Two were attacked in the 1980s, while the third occurred between 2002 and 2004.

He remains free on bail.

The Archdiocese is holding a meeting Monday evening at the Holy Family Parish to answer questions about the case.

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Ronald Léger, former priest, pleads guilty to sex assault

Léger had previously indicated he would not plead guilty to the offences

Posted: Jul 13, 2015 11:41 AM CTLast Updated: Jul 13, 2015 3:14 PM CT

CBC News

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 RAW: Former priest leaves Winnipeg court after filing sex assault guilty plea

Father Leger

Rev. Ronald Léger, who used to lead Holy Family Parish and founded Teen Stop Jeunesse, will be sentenced early next week and his name added to the national sex offender registry. (CBC)

A 77-year-old former priest surprised a Winnipeg court Monday by pleading guilty to three sex assault charges and one charge of sexual interference.

Rev. Ronald Léger had previously indicated he would not plead guilty to the offences, which occurred between 1984 and 2004.

The sexual interference charge is because one of the victims was under 16 years of age.

Léger, who used to lead Holy Family Parish and founded Teen Stop Jeunesse, will be sentenced early next week and his name added to the national sex offender registry.

He remains free on bail.

Léger was arrested earlier this year after three males between the ages of nine and 18 came forward. Two were attacked in the 1980s, while the third occurred between 2002 and 2004.

4 Responses to “Father Ronald Léger defrocked after sex assault plea” & related article

  1. Sylvia says:

    Please note: according to the first article. Father Ronald Leger csv has been “formally defrocked” – A quote is taken from Archbishop LeGatt’s press release: “You are definitively no longer authorized to exercise a public ministry in our Archdiocese of Saint Boniface”

    There is no way that Father Leger has been defrocked. Defrocking just does not happen so quickly. What has happened is that Father Leger has been stripped of his faculties in the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface and can no longer function as a priest within the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface.

    Father Leger is a Viatorian priest. He ‘belongs’ to the Viatorians. It will be up to the Viatorians to decide if Father Leger can function as a priest on their behalf anywhere. IF they should decide that he should be able to say public Masses and hear confessions in, for example, Rigaud, Quebec, they will have to find a bishop who will be willing to give him the faculties to do so. He did plead guilty: yes. He IS a child molester: yes. He has NOT been defrocked

    Anyway, the bottom line is, Father Leger has NOT been defrocked.

    • BC says:

      And the magic words: are in the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface. There gonna be doing a lucrative deal to swap Father Lucky Leclair from Guelph to Winnipeg in exchange for Léger and a couple of other perverts… Let’s not forget that Father Lucky Leclair only is a convicted fraudster. Which means that he’s got a lot of potential for a job in Rome. (Once his criminal record has been expunged and he’s allowed to travel abroad, of course)

  2. Graystone Rivers says:

    Does anyone know if this Father Leger, when acting as a priest in St. Boniface, Mb., was ever the head of a group of parishioners who traveled to Haiti for the purpose of constructing a church, of perhaps orphanage etc. ??

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