Fr. William R. Leyhane
Leyhane died at age 86 in 1982. In 2019 an archdiocesan deacon came forward publicly with allegations that Leyhane sexually abused him in 1971, when he was in eighth grade at St. Ethelreda. He had an after-school job in the rectory and said the abuse happened a few times. He said he reported the abuse to the Archdiocese in 1995 and that Cardinal Bernardin apologized to him. The man again approached archdiocesan officials in 2001. The Review Board found that the abuse was “possible.” Lehane’s victim tried for many years without success to get the Archdiocese to include Leyhane’s name on its list of those with substantiated allegations. It was finally added in 10/2022 after pressure from IL Attorney General’s investigators. Included in the 5/23/2023 Attorney General’s Report, which shows that there were other allegations against Leyhane: one in 10/1994, and others in 4/2004, 3/2006, 11/2007, 12/20077/2008 and 9/2008.
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