In a correspondence dated March 31, 1970, Father Leonard Joseph Kelly was instructed by then-Bishop John Michael O’Neill of Grand Falls to promptly vacate his parish due to undisclosed actions that were deemed problematic and of a more serious nature than previously understood.
The bishop’s letter, found in Kelly’s personnel file at the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Grand Falls, suggested Kelly’s departure from Baie Verte on the pretext of needing medical care due to poor health to avoid any potential scandal. O’Neill, in a bid to maintain secrecy, avoided convening a consultors’ meeting to prevent any information leakage.
Rather than involving authorities, the bishop directed Kelly to seek treatment at the Southdown Institute near Toronto, a facility known for treating various issues affecting priests, including alcoholism, depression, and, in some cases, pedophilia.
Recently uncovered letters from the early ’70s have become the focus of an unusual legal action in central Newfoundland. The church’s insurer, Guardian Insurance, is seeking a Norwich order to obtain vital documents from the Southdown Institute related to Kelly’s admission in 1970. The insurer believes these records may reveal that the church was aware of Kelly’s risk to children before entering into an insurance contract in the 1980s.
Kelly, who faced allegations of sexual abuse in Gander leading to a lawsuit filed in 2022, was previously convicted of assaulting two 12-year-old boys in the mid-1980s. Despite receiving treatment at the Southdown Institute, his actions led to legal repercussions, including a jail sentence in 1988.
The legal action seeks to uncover possible non-disclosure or misrepresentation by the church regarding Kelly’s history, potentially impacting insurance coverage. The ongoing court proceedings aim to shed light on the circumstances surrounding Kelly’s past and the actions taken by the church and authorities at the time.
