Assignment Record – Rev. Jerome ("Jerry") Paul Leach

Summary of Case: Leach was suspended from active ministry in 1993 when an accusation surfaced that he had sexually abused a boy in 1976. He was arrested in November 2002 and charged with the sexually abuse of another boy in the late 1970s. The charges were dropped in July 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a CA law that would have allowed for prosecution. The Official Catholic Directory lists him as "Absent on Leave" through 2015. He died October 15, 2017.

Ordained: 1976
Died: 2017

     

Start Stop Parish/Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes
San Francisco archbishop was Joseph Thomas McGucken (1962-1977). 1976 All Souls

South San Francisco

• Leach was accused in 1993 of having molested a boy at this parish in 1976.

CA Deacon  

1976

McGucken was succeeded by John Raphael Quinn (1977-1995.)

1979 St. Pius Redwood City CA 3/3 St. Pius had a school with 337-302 students.
1979 1983 St. Patrick's

Larkspur

• Leach was accused in 2002 of having sexually abused a 12 year-old altar boy over a 10 month period in 1979.

CA 2/2 St. Patrick's had a school with 215-192 students.
1983 1986 St. Catherine of Siena Burlingame CA 3/5, 3/3, 2/3 St. Catherine's had a school with 315-310 students.
1986 1987 Absent on Sick Leave        
1987 1989 St. Finnbarr San Francisco CA 2/3, 2/2 St. Finnbarr's had a school with 289-287 students.
1989 1990         Leach is not indexed in the 1990 Directory, nor is he listed in the archdiocesan pages as at his previous or next assignments.
1990 1991 Our Lady of Mercy Daly City CA 4/4 Our Lady of Mercy had a school with 584 students.
1991 1993 All Souls

South San Francisco

 

 CA 2/4, 2/3

All Souls had a school with 315-310 students, and a CCD program with 345-478 students.

Leach was suspended from ministry in May 1993 after an accusation surfaced that he had molested a boy at All Souls in 1976, prior to ordination.

1992 1994         Leach is not indexed in the 1994 Directory, nor is he listed in the archdiocesan pages as at his previous assignment.

1994

William Joseph Levada replaced Quinn (1995-2005), followed by George Hugh Niederauer (2005-).

2015 Absent on Leave      

Leach was arrested in November 2002 and charged with having molested and sodomized an altar boy in Larkspur 1979. Charges were dropped in July 2003 when the U.S. Supreme court overturned a CA statutes of limitation law that would have allowed for prosecution.

He is not indexed beyond the 2015 Directory.

Leach died October 15, 2017.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1977-2010)

• New Molest Arrest for Former Priest, By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, November 21, 2002
• Sex Crimes Cases Allowed to Proceed, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, January 23, 2003
• Marin DA Expects to Drop Charges against Priests, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, June 27, 2003
• Some Molesters to Go Free, By Brandon Bailey and Elise Banducci, San Jose Mercury News, June 27, 2003
• Charges Dropped in Novato Molest Case, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, July 2, 2003
• 3 More Marin Molest Cases Dropped, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, July 3, 2003
• Rev. Jerome Leach, Obituary, San Francisco Chronicle via Legacy.com, October 17, 2017



Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Leach's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on May 21, 2018.