Fr. Lawrence Hecker
Diocese of Baton Rouge/ New Orleans
Born:1931
Ordained: 1958
Removed: 2002
Assignment History
- St. Frances Cabrini (New Orleans, LA)
- Christ the King (Terrytown, LA)
- 1980-1983: Holy Family (Luling, LA)
- Holy Rosary (New Orleans, LA)
- Our Lady of Lourdes (New Orleans, LA)
- St. Anthony (Luling, LA)
- St. Bernadette (Houma, LA)
- St. Francis Xavier (Metairie, LA)
- St. Joseph (Gretna, LA)
- St. Louise de Marillac (Arabi, LA)
- St. Mary (New Roads, LA)
- St. Theresa of Child Jesus (New Orleans, LA)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Lawrence Hecker:
Fr. Lawrence Hecker was ordained a Catholic priest in 1958 and worked in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Fr. Hecker was removed from active ministry in 2002. In 2018, the archdiocese released a list of priests and clergy members who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor at some point during their time with the diocese. Father Lawrence Hecker was included on the list for sexual abuse that was reported in 1996 due to alleged abuse that occurred in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 2024, Lawrence Hecker, 93, unexpectedly pleaded guilty to charges of child rape and kidnapping, which guarantees a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Newest Update about Fr. Hecker
According to news reports, Hecker was facing trial admit sexual assault allegations. The trial was delayed several months due to concerns over Hecker’s mental competency due to Alzheimer’s and dementia, but he was found competent.
The victim who pursued the case against Hecker was about 16 when the priest raped him in 1975. Hecker hired the teen to help set up masses at New Orleans’ St Theresa the Little Flower church. One Sunday after mass, the teen was working out in a weight room in St Theresa’s bell tower. Hecker showed up unannounced in the weight room and spoke with him about the teen’s hopes of making one of the sports teams at adjacent St John. He purported to teach the teen some moves to help him make the squad. The ruse allowed Hecker to position himself behind the boy and put him in a chokehold. Authorities would later assert that the teen felt Hecker rape him before he lost consciousness as he tried to fight his attacker off. When the teen woke up, he realized the back of his shorts were wet, so he discarded them as he went home. The teen later told his mother about the rape – as well as his principal, Paul Calamari. Hecker was indicted in 2023 following an investigation that revealed he molested several boys over his tenure with the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
In 1999, Fr. Heckler wrote a letter to the archdiocese admitting that he engaged in sexual acts or harassment with at least seven teens in his care from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s. The letter allegedly also stated that Fr. Heckler helped a man with a mental disability by bringing him food at work that he would fondle. That letter was sent to several top church officials at the time, including now-Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Heckler was sent to treatment at a psychiatric facility. His evaluation stated, “a pedophile who did not understand how his behavior affected others.” He said the facility’s report “explicitly recommended that he not work with children or adults who could be considered vulnerable.”
When Hecker returned from treatment, the Archdiocese of New Orleans reassigned him to a Destrehan church and let him quietly retire three years later, according to a report by the Guardian. Lawrence Hecker was “removed” from active ministry in 2002 and allowed to retire with full health benefits and pension until 2020 when the judge overseeing the archdiocese’s bankruptcy ordered it to stop paying benefits to former employees accused of molesting children.
In 2005, the archdiocese received a letter from a woman whose ex-husband had described being fondled in his sleep as an altar boy on an overnight fishing trip by Hecker decades earlier. Hecker’s response when confronted with that claim was that he “didn’t think masturbation while holding on to someone was a sin”, according to a memorandum that Hughes’s clerical director wrote to the archbishop. The memo also quoted Hecker as saying: “I thought I could beat the system.”
In April of 2019, Lawrence Hecker was accused of sexual misconduct again when a group of boys filed a lawsuit claiming Fr. Hecker had fondled all of them at St. Joseph’s in Gretna in 1968. The lawsuit accused Hecker of lining the boys up shoulder-to-shoulder, ordering them to drop their pants, and showing them “what it was like to get a hernia exam” by groping the children’s genitals.
Law enforcement authorities have never charged Hecker with a crime, even though there were multiple victims of his abuse. New Orleans’s Archdiocese did not publicly acknowledge that Hecker was a predator until 2018, and Hecler was listed on the Baton Rouge Diocese’s list of clergy members credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor as of early 2019. Father Hecker worked for both the New Orleans diocese and the Baton Rouge diocese during his career.
Hecker and other clerics who were defrocked as a result of sex abuse allegations also appeared on a list of retired priests for whom the New Orleans Archdiocese was collecting money. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has said removal from ministry, or defrocking, is not a full-fledged exile from the church, and they are legally obligated to pay priests their share of the pension plan if they contributed to it before retiring.
In April 2020, the Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for bankruptcy protection. As part of its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans will be reviewing and paying claims for anyone sexually abused by diocesan priests and lay employees. This will likely include claims filed on behalf of anyone whose case may be beyond the statute of limitations.
In 2023, a news station in New Orleans was interviewing Lawrence Hecker about a statement he gave to New Orleans church leaders in 1999 when he made the confession. Heckler admitted that the statement he gave years ago was true and that he did sexually abuse several teenagers during his career.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Baton Rouge in Louisiana. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Louisiana, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Baton Rouge may now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply, so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Louisiana and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.