MISSOURI
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Leonard R. Chambers was ordained in 1965 for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. He was assigned to more than twenty parishes during his career, assisting and serving as administrator early on, then assigned as pastor for the first time in 1974. Chambers held a number of diocesan positions, serving as president or chair of several.
In August 1982 Bishop Bernard Law placed Chambers on leave after the parents of a teenage boy complained that the priest had molested their son. Chambers admitted to the abuse. He spent ten months at the Servants of the Paraclete’s treatment facility in Jemez Springs, NM, after which he was returned to ministry. In the mid-1990s Springfield-Cape Girardeau bishop Leibrecht placed restrictions on Chambers, prohibiting him from being alone with minors. When Chambers was found alone with a minor in 1998, Leibrecht forced him to retire. Chambers is not indexed in the Official Catholic Directory after 2002. He is last known to have been living in Joplin, MO.
Ordained: 1965
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