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LeClair admitted to a gambling problem but steadfastly denied taking parishioners’ money. He blessed those who cancelled their Citizen; hundreds did.

Two weeks after the story’s publication, LeClair resigned as pastor under pressure from the diocese and underwent addictions treatment.

A subsequent audit by Deloitte and Touche revealed that $1.16 million moved through LeClair’s personal account between between January 2006 and December 2010. About $400,000 of that could not be tied to his salary ($22,000 a year), stipends, gifts or casino winnings, the auditors said.

The archdiocese recovered $379,000 in an insurance settlement, and introduced sweeping financial reforms at all of its churches.

In January 2014, LeClair pleaded guilty to theft and fraud. Court heard that he wrote cheques to himself from church accounts, overcharged for his personal expenses, dipped his hand into Sunday collections (stashed uncounted in his closet), and redirected fees for marriage preparation courses to his own account.

Most of the money he took from the church, a registered charity, went towards the repayment of his gambling debts, court heard.

His lawyer said LeClair turned to alcohol and gambling to relieve the stress and anxiety associated with ministering to his large parish.

LeClair was sentenced to a year in jail. He was released in November 2014 and spent time in a Moncton parish before being moved to Guelph, where he continued to struggle with addiction.

He pleaded guilty to impaired driving in August 2016, three months after being stopped with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

In his recent letter to the clergy, Archbishop Prendergast said everyone in the diocese is aware of LeClair’s troubled past.

“It has been a difficult experience for not only Father Joe, but also for parishioners and many others in our archdiocese,” he said. “At this moment in time, together as a Christian community, we can model forgiveness and support a brother in his desire to be of priestly service to God’s people.”