As the Christians Begin their Fertility Rite Festival: Diocese of Joliet priest committed as sexually violent

WHEATON -- A jury Wednesday committed a Joliet Diocese priest and convicted child molester under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.

Fred Lenczycki, 63, was convicted of sexually abusing three Catholic school boys in the 1980s while a priest at St. Isaac Jogues in Hinsdale. He served half his five-year prison term.

A jury in Wheaton today committed Lenczycki to the Illinois Department of Human Services as a sexually violent person likely to re-offend because of a mental disorder.

He is the first clergy member to remain incarcerated under the act.
Four mental health experts testified in the four-day trial - two for the state and two for the defense. While each side differed in opinion as to Lenczycki's recidivism rate, all agree he is a pedophile.

Lenczycki was an ordained Roman Catholic priest for 30 years until being removed from active ministry in 2002 after DuPage County filed its felony case against the priest.

Shortly after, three men came forward to say Lenczycki also had molested them while assigned to a California parish where he was undergoing "treatment" ordered by the Joliet Diocese.

Those cases were never prosecuted because of a lack of evidence, according to a San Mateo state's attorney's office spokesman.

The number of alleged victims has grown - now to 30 - as the trial has commenced. Three of those allegations stem from Lenczycki's time as a pastor in the 1970s at SS Peter and Paul in Naperville.

In 1997, a man identified only as John Doe filed a civil lawsuit in Will County against Lenczycki alleging the abuse of nine altar boys at St. Isaac Jogue. The Joliet Diocese settled the lawsuit a year later for an undisclosed amount of money.

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