Fr. John Edward Hefferan

Ordained: 1956
Status: Accused

Died: 01/29/2018
Diocese: Archdiocese of Chicago IL

Newly identified as an abuser in the Chicago Archdiocesan Report released 3/20/2006. Removed from public ministry in 10/2003. Per documents released by the Archdiocese in 11/2014, Hefferan was accused in 3/1993 of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the late 1970s at St. John Vianney in Northlake. Restricted from being alone with minors for four months. Two more allegations surfaced in 2002 and 2003: a person claimed sexual exploitation by Hefferan 1964-1967 at St. Anastasia’s in Waukegan, and a woman filed a formal complaint that Hefferan fondled her breasts in the late 1960s, when she was in junior high school in Flossmoor. Died 1/29/2018, per the Archdiocese’s updated list 11/28/2018. Included in the IL Attorney General’s Report 5/23/2023.


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