Excommunicated Father Leatherby Admits Love Stories

Leatherby was removed from public ministry in spring 2016 amid allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship.
Parishioners told CatholicNewsAgency.com (August 11) that Leatherby had formed a pious circle of women around him, among them a daily mass-goer with whom the affair started. In an August letter, Leatherby admits that he “violated boundaries" with that woman but categorically denies a number of other allegations she levelled against him.
Leatherby writes that he has lived the last four and a half years “largely in isolation and in tremendous loneliness” suffering grievously.
Some months ago, he even wished to die. One night, after he had drunk too much, he attempted to send a video message to a woman “who is a friend” but mistakenly sent the video to the wrong contact. Leatherby calls the message “inappropriate.” In that message he says, “Hey, Baby Doll. I love that without mascara you are still strikingly beautiful. I love that. I love it, like, a lot.”
He adds, “I love you, I love you, I love you, you’re my girl, I imagine. I’ll still say a ‘good night’ before I really, really, really go to bed, but I love you, even now, before then. Ok, goodnight, I love you.”
Leatherby plans to ask for his laicisation and intends to “live out my priestly promises independently” of the Church.
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