Abusive New Orleans priest enjoys six figures' worth of financial support, victim claims

By Ramon Antonio Vargas
NOLA.com
March 06, 2020

https://www.nola.com/news/courts/article_41d24be8-5fe9-11ea-a7a0-e745fcb971df.html

Lawrence Hecker

Lawrence Hecker

Attorneys for a man who claims he was molested as a child by a predatory priest estimate that the clergyman has received hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of financial support from the Archdiocese of New Orleans since his forced retirement, according to court documents filed Friday.

The filing in the lawsuit targeting former priest Lawrence Hecker, 88, and the archdiocese calls attention to a church practice that is common nationwide but infuriates abuse victims and advocates.

The church provides retired priests with a monthly income, car insurance and a choice of living quarters, even when, like Hecker, they filed retirement papers in the wake of a credible accusation of child sexual abuse.

The plaintiff’s filing on Friday cites the archdiocese’s own policy manual to support its arguments.

An archdiocesan spokeswoman declined comment Friday but said, “We pray for the victims and survivors of abuse every day and ask others to join in prayer for their healing.”

The archdiocese has previously said it is obligated to pay priests what they are owed under their pension plan.

Filed last April, the suit in question accuses Hecker of fondling the genitals of the plaintiff and other boys at St. Joseph School in Gretna in 1968. The plaintiff seeks damages from both Hecker and the archdiocese.

The archdiocese removed Hecker from the ministry in 2002 because he was a suspected child molester, but it waited until 2018 to publicly acknowledge those suspicions on a roster listing dozens of other credibly accused clergymen.

Friday’s filing seeks to compel Hecker to provide answers to written questions from the plaintiff’s lawyers — Soren Gisleson, John Denenea and Richard Trahant — who are representing roughly two dozen alleged clergy abuse victims in various cases.

Hecker’s attorney, Eugene Redmann, has filed a blanket denial of wrongdoing by his client. Hecker has refused to answer written questions from the plaintiff about whether the archdiocese has provided him housing, retirement benefits or income, saying that information is irrelevant.

Another goal of Friday’s filing is to attack an argument the church has made: that it cannot be held liable for any of Hecker’s alleged crimes because they occurred outside of the performance of his priestly duties.

The plaintiff’s lawyers note that the archdiocese’s most recent directory, from 2019, describes Hecker as “retired.” The local church’s policy handbook says all retired priests are entitled to a monthly income; medical insurance, plus dental and vision coverage; car insurance; continuing education; and their choice of “archdiocese-owned living facilities.”

Following his retirement, public records for years have shown Hecker’s home address as an archdiocese-owned apartment complex in Marrero. His current listed home address is at a privately owned apartment complex.

The manual provides three funding sources for retired priests’ benefits: an assessment paid by each church parish; an assessment from each parish for its assigned priests; and an allocation from an annual collection of donations from parishioners meant to cover priests’ retirement costs.

“In other words, collections from Masses have been funding some part of Hecker’s ‘retirement,’” the plaintiff’s new filing asserts. “Given that Hecker ‘retired’ in 2002, the benefits he has received in the last 18 years are undoubtedly substantial.”

Citing data from a website that estimates salary information for various professions, the filing posits that active priests in New Orleans make nearly $48,000 — and that Hecker has been paid nearly half a million dollars since his retirement.

“A conservative estimate of 50% of his salary as retirement would equate to approximately $24,000 per year and, when added to the last 18 years, would total about $432,000 — not including his other benefits of health care, car insurance … and living expenses,” the filing argues.

At least one other priest, Thomas Gaspard Glasgow, who was included on the list of those credibly accused of abuse is described as “retired” in the archdiocese’s 2019 directory.

The arrangements highlighted in Friday’s court papers are not unique to New Orleans. Reports show they exist in dioceses across the country, with advocates for clergy abuse victims often expressing outrage.

Ordained in 1958, Hecker worked at more than a dozen churches across the New Orleans area, including Our Lady of Lourdes in New Orleans, St. Francis Xavier in Metairie and Christ the King in Terrytown.

A filing Monday from the plaintiff’s lawyers accused Hecker of being “a serial pedophile who … sexually abused countless children” prior to his removal from the ministry. The filing also contended that the church has never reported Hecker to all relevant law enforcement authorities, even though there is evidence that he committed crimes for which there is no statute of limitation and for which he could still be punished.

That filing seeks the public disclosure of records the plaintiff’s attorneys already have, and which they argue show a shameful and possibly criminal cover-up of Hecker’s behavior.