The Jesuits of Canada are suing their former director of finance for more than $7 million. The Jesuits claim that since at least 2003 their long-time, trusted employee was siphoning off money using fake invoices, a secret bank account and a numbered corporation.
The civil suit filed with Ontario Superior Court of Justice on June 2 names Barry Leidl, his wife Nancy Leidl, a numbered corporation and “persons unknown” as the authors of a scheme of “fraudulent misappropriation of funds.”
Money donated to the religious order was used to pay for real estate investments — including a house in St. Catharines, Ont., a condo in Guelph, Ont., and a condo in Florida — nearly $2.2 million in credit card balances, and $45,000 in tuition and student debt payments for the Leidls’ adult children.
“Our goal in filing the claim is to ensure financial and apostolic transparency, as well as to recover the amount claimed,” the Jesuits of Canada told Canadian Affairs by email through the public relations firm Massy Forget Langlois.
“We are continuing to strengthen our internal controls and accounting practices,” the statement said.
Reached by phone, Barry Leidl deferred to his lawyers.
Leidl’s lawyer, Stephen Moreau of Cavalluzzo LLP, told Canadian Affairs, “As the matter is active in the Superior Court, I am not in a position to answer your questions.”
‘Trusted him’
In the statement of claim, the Jesuits say they first noticed something amiss in April of this year, six months after Leidl retired.
The day after the Jesuits canceled Leidl’s email account with the Jesuits, Leidl texted Jesuit Provincial Superior Fr. Jeff Burwell to say he had “made some mistakes in my years stewarding the Province funds.”
A day later, Leidl again texted Burwell to say, “there are seem (sic) things that need to (be) remedied and I will do everything I can to make things right financially,” according to the statement of claim, which was filed on behalf of the Jesuits by lawyers at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.
At May 15 and June 2 meetings between Leidl and the Jesuits’ forensic accountant, Leidl admitted he had created fake invoices and used a previously unknown bank account to redirect Jesuit funds to himself. He also acknowledged that the total amount at issue was in the millions of dollars, according to the statement of claim.
At this point, no criminal charges have been laid.
Leidl began working for the Jesuits in English Canada in 1991 as an assistant treasurer. By 2017, he was the director of advancement, or chief fundraiser, for the Jesuits outside of Quebec, while maintaining his role as treasurer. When the Jesuits of English Canada and Quebec merged into a single entity in 2018, Leidl took over as director of advancement for the unified organization. In 2022, he was named its director of finance.
After Leidl retired from that position in November 2024, he continued to consult for the Jesuits and had access to confidential information and computer systems. On his retirement, Leidl was paid nearly $142,000 for 152 days of unused vacation time and various expenses.
“Jesuits Canada trusted Mr. Leidl. It relied on him to fulfill his duties with integrity, honesty and loyalty,” the statement of claim says.
None of the allegations in the statement of claim have been proven in court. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.
A storied history
Globally, the Jesuits are the Catholic Church’s largest male religious order, with about 16,000 priests and brothers. More than 200 of them are Canadian.
The Jesuits first came to Canada in 1611 and played a major role as missionaries in New France.
In 1639, St. Jean de Brebeuf and other Jesuits established a fortified mission post and village on the shores of Georgian Bay called Sainte Marie. They had hoped to establish an Indigenous, Wendat-Huron Christian kingdom, but had to abandon the project and set the village on fire in the midst of war over the rights to fur trade routes in 1649.
In the residential school era, the Jesuits established and operated residential schools for boys and girls in Spanish, Ont. In 2004, years before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, the Jesuits set up a compensation fund for former students of the Spanish residential school.
The Canadian Jesuits produced one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century in Bernard Lonergan. The Canadian Jesuits also claim the influential Biblical scholar David Stanley, who was tasked in the 1970s with investigating the Biblical basis for admitting women to the priesthood. Stanley concluded that nothing in the Bible ruled out women priests, to the annoyance of Pope John Paul II.
Thank you for sharing this story. One question: why does this article end with a comment about David Stanley? The concluding statement – “Stanley concluded that nothing in the Bible ruled out women priests, to the annoyance of Pope John Paul II” -seems to have no relevance to the story, except to highlight that the author holds the “correct” progressive views about the Church. Why did the author include it and why did the editor allow it?
The suggestion that David Stanley’s conclusion on women priests “seems to have no relevance to the story” is misplaced.
After providing details about the fraud, under the subtitle “A Storied History” for the benefit of readers who may know nothing about the Canadian Jesuits, the author situates the defrauded religious organization in Canadian history. The history goes back to 1611, but it also extend into modern times.
I knew both Bernard Lonergan and David Stanley. Both are significant Canadian of international repute. Lonergan’s “Insight” and “Method in Theology” have remained philosophically and theologically significant decades after publication; David’s Stanley conclusion that there are no biblical impediments to women priests, in a study commissioned by the Vatican, remains germaine and will remain significant as long as Catholicism continues to struggle with the issue of women priests.