Photo: Tim Boyle/Getty Images
A notorious former New Orleans church leader has admitted in an interview that he sexually abused or harassed several teenagers during his career.
WWL-TV, a CBS affiliate in New Orleans, was interviewing Lawrence Hecker with Britain’s Guardian newspaper about a statement he gave to New Orleans church leaders in 1999 when he made the confession.
Hecker, 91, was ordained a priest in 1958. In 1988, reports of his actions reached the Archbishop of New Orleans, Philip Hannan, however, he convinced him that he would never “be in such circumstances” again.
The priest did not face consequences until 1999, when continued denunciations led the archdiocese to send him to a psychiatric treatment center on the outskirts of Louisiana. There, heor diagnosed as a pedophile and it was recommended that he be prohibited from working with minors or other “particularly vulnerable persons”.
The 1999 complaint also led to a statement, where Hecker acknowledged committing “overtly sexual acts” with three underage children and said he had close relationships with four others that lasted until the 1980s.
During the recent interview, when asked if he had performed the acts described in the statement, Hecker told WWL-TV twice “Yes”. His admission was caught on video.
Hecker said he was “truly sorry” and cannot answer whether he thought authorities should bring a case against him.
The former leader of the Church has never been criminally prosecutedaccording to WWL-TV, but has been the subject of an investigation by the New Orleans district attorney’s office.
Even after being released from the psychiatric facility, Hecker continued to work at the church. In 2000, he was assigned to St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan, a small Louisiana town where the church had an attached elementary school, WWL-TV reported.
Hecker retired in 2002 after the Catholic Church adopted reforms after it emerged that the institution had been protecting priests accused of sexually abusing minors in Boston, Massachusetts.
Keith Lampkin, chief of operations and external affairs for the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, said Wednesday, “As with all cases, the OPDA will use all relevant and admissible evidence of guilt to obtain justice for the victims.” .
Over a 10-year period beginning in 2010, the archdiocese paid at least $332,500 to settle out of court in five cases alleging sexual abuse by Hecker.according to WWL-TV.
Despite this, the Archdiocese of New Orleans never told parishioners and other members of the community what Hecker was suspected of until 2018, when a list of priests and deacons deemed predators accused in a manner was released under public pressure. credible.
The archdiocese continued to pay Hecker’s retirement benefits through 2020, WWL-TV said.
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