Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux officials have said they had not heard
reports of any predatory behavior by a former priest before a man came
forward, accusing the priest of molesting him as an altar boy.
However, people who claim
to have had sexual relationships with the Rev. Etienne LeBlanc said
they felt preyed on by an authority figure who took advantage of them,
even if they were not victims in the eyes of criminal law.
A civil suit against LeBlanc and the diocese, filed by Morgan City
native Jared Ribardi, was settled last month, and LeBlanc, who couldn’t
be reached for comment, has never been arrested under any criminal
charges.
The alleged
encounters happened at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Morgan City, which
is part of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. LeBlanc has also worked at
Annunziata Catholic Church in Houma and is now retired.
Louis
Aguirre, spokesman for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, wrote a letter
to The Courier and Daily Comet after the settlement, which was not
disclosed.
The diocese
“has not ever known of any alleged ‘predatory behavior’ by Father
LeBlanc,” Aguirre wrote, referring to Ribardi’s attorney’s allegations
that the diocese knew about his predatory sexual behavior for 25 years.
Aguirre could not be reached for comment at the time the attorney, Roger Stetter, made that statement.
Natchitoches resident Clayton Delery, 55, said he disagreed with that statement when he read it.
Delery
said when he was 17 he met LeBlanc at Teens Encounter Christ, a
retreat for high school students in Reserve. They became friends, and
Delery would sometimes visit LeBlanc at his rectory in Reserve, where
they had sex, Delery said.
He did not tell anyone this
until 1993 when he wrote a letter to the Archdiocese of New Orleans
about their brief relationship in the ’70s.
He
chose to write to church officials because of “a wave of stories” in
the ’90s about allegations against Catholic priests of sexual
molestation.
Because
Delery was 17, LeBlanc’s alleged relationship with him is not against
Louisiana law. State civil code defines “criminal sexual activity” as
occurring against people 17 or younger.
“For
the first time, I thought maybe this wasn’t just something that
happened between Father LeBlanc and me. Maybe this is part of a
pattern,” Delery said.
Also,
in 1989, Delery said he became a teacher at a high school, which
affected the way he thought about authority figures taking advantage of
young people.
“I remember
becoming aware, you know, if I were to ever have sexual relations with a
student, I’d be fired on the spot, and the school would be right to do
it,” he said.
Less than a
month after writing the letter, Delery received a response from the Rev.
Michael Jarrell, the former bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.
“Father
Etienne did receive psychiatric counseling while on sabbatical during
the school year 1986-87,” Jarrell wrote. “Upon recommendation of his
doctor, he was returned to parish work in May of 1987. For six years he
has served successfully in his parish assignment. In that time there
have been no complaints about his behavior. ... I am satisfied that
whatever problems he may have had have been faced and overcome. He is
continuing to receive counseling on a regular basis. If he were a threat
to anyone, I feel that there would have been complaints.”
In his letter, Jarrell does not acknowledge why LeBlanc began to receive counseling.
The alleged sexual encounters
between LeBlanc and Ribardi, which include accusations that LeBlanc
forced Ribardi to perform oral sex, happened in the early 1990s when
Ribardi was as young as 9 and as old as 14, according to his civil
petition.
“I felt very
ambivalent about (the letter),” Delery said, “because I felt that at
least they were addressing my concerns. On the other hand, it seemed
kind of dismissive.”
Delery said he felt that Jarrell was saying, “We’ve got our eyes on him. You don’t need to worry.”
Although what Delery alleges about LeBlanc’s past relationship with him was not criminal, Delery said he felt like a victim.
“There
was still a huge age difference and a huge power difference,” Delery
said. “He was the authority figure. He was the one who was supposed to
be supplying guidance.”
OTHERS HAVE SPOKEN UP
Two former Nicholls
State University students have alleged past sexual relationships with
LeBlanc when he was pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Thibodaux,
Stetter said.
Both have since died, one from suicide and the other from AIDS.
Stetter
alleged that LeBlanc sexually assaulted Timmy Folse in 1989. Folse’s
friends and relatives said he told them about LeBlanc’s alleged
behavior. Folse considered LeBlanc a friend and had sought counseling
from him, they said.
Folse
never reported the alleged misdeeds to church officials. His widow,
Jane G. Folse, said he was convinced that if he did, the complaint would
go nowhere.
But a friend,
Michael White, said he told his former high-school religion teacher of
the alleged misconduct. The teacher recalled telling White that he
should go to higher-ups in the church. She said she notified a nun years
later.
The second student died of AIDS in 1992, but his family requested that his name not be printed in The Courier or Daily Comet.
His first cousin said she was
going to testify at Ribardi’s trial. The woman, who asked to be unnamed
because her identity would reveal her cousin’s, said he confessed on
his deathbed to her that he had a sexual relationship with a priest
while he was a college student.
“Later
in life, it disturbed him greatly. ... As he was dying, he displayed
anger toward the Catholic Church and would not accept the sacraments,”
or Last Rites, she said.
“(LeBlanc)
made him lose the thing he’d loved the most in life,” his Catholicism,
she said. “It was hypocrisy. ... (LeBlanc) is supposed to be celibate,
and it’s no different for a heterosexual. I hold them to the same
level.”
His cousin said what he told her did not damage her opinion of the Catholic Church.
“I don’t want to hurt my church,” she said. “We just want them to understand, what’s wrong is wrong.”
DIOCESE RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS
Aguirre declined to respond to these individuals’ assertion that LeBlanc’s alleged behavior toward them was “predatory.”
Aguirre also declined to outline the diocese’s specific policies when allegations of sexual misconduct are brought forward.
“The
diocesan policy is to investigate the matter thoroughly and to take
appropriate action to serve the best interests of all parties,” Aguirre
said.
Aguirre also pointed out that Ribardi’s claims were not proven in court.
Stetter said he encouraged Ribardi to settle.
“I
had one client who jumped off a bridge. ... It’s extremely stressful to
go through this litigation, so we encourage our clients, if it’s a good
settlement, to take it,” Stetter said.