The priest is also required to make restitution of the $134,000 to the Ottawa archdiocese.

LeClair, who pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to fraud, theft and breach of trust, will also serve an additional year of probation once his prison sentence is completed. It requires he complete rehabilitation already underway.

The charges cover a five-year period from 2006 to 2011 during which LeClair ran Blessed Sacrament parish in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood. An audit by the archdiocese revealed lax accounting standards that saw the priest mixing his personal accounts and credit cards with church accounts. More than $400,000 of church funds was unaccounted for, the audit showed.

However, in the guilty plea, the Crown and the defense agreed on stolen funds of $134,000.

Ontario Court Justice Jack Nadelle read extensively from a psychiatric assessment that revealed the popular and charismatic priest suffered from a lifelong anxiety disorder. Credited with building the parish to a flourishing community in his 15 years at Blessed Sacrament, LeClair found its rapid growth created an increasingly stressful workload and increased his level of stress and anxiety, the judge said.

The priest not only received medication to help with depression and anxiety, he developed an out-of-control alcohol problem, the judge said. This damaged his liver and also resulted in cognitive impairment.

LeClair also discovered during this time that gambling “served as an escape from the high expectations of work he had created,” the judge said. He obtained some big wins and began to suffer from the “classic cognitive distortions” of a pathological gambler, with elation at his wins, depression at his losses and a pattern of “chasing wins.”

The priest was not found to have any anti-social or sociopathic traits, he said.

Nadelle listed among the aggravating factors the amount of money stolen, the length of time he engaged in the criminal behaviour and the breach of trust with his parishioners.

“Every time he took some money he was committing a criminal offense,” the judge stressed. Not all the money was used for gambling, he pointed out. The priest also used church funds to pay for a $5,000 vacation.

LeClair did not stop voluntarily, but only when he was caught, the judge said. When he was caught, “he lied to his parishioners.” Nadelle noted that after the news media began reporting about his gambling addiction and huge credit card advances at the casino, he admitted to his parishioners at an Apr. 16, 2011 church service that he had a gambling problem, but insisted he had only spent personal funds.

Though LeClair had no criminal record, had expressed remorse, was undergoing rehabilitation and had a “solid support system” and could possibly be reintegrated into priestly ministry once his rehabilitation is completed, those mitigating factors were not enough for the judge to impose a conditional sentence as such a sentence was “not adequate” to address the principle of “denunciation and deterrence” required in sentencing for a crime of this nature, he said.

About 25-30 supporters and family members packed the courtroom, many expressing shock at the sentence, though few were willing to speak to journalists.

“I feel like I’m in the middle of a bad nightmare,” said one woman.

“I was stunned,” said Frank Licari, who attended court with his daughter Joanne. “I do not see Fr. Joe as a threat to society.”

He spoke of the stress LeClair experienced running a large congregation and said the archdiocese needed better procedures to help priests running into problems.

His daughter said she was “disappointed” by the sentence.

“I did not feel he warranted jail for what he did,” she said, adding the sentence did not take into account all the good LeClair did in 15 years at Blessed Sacrament. “He helped me through some of my darkest times.”

She asked what good his gifts for serving people would do “behind bars.”

Conrad Rock, the sacristan at Blessed Sacrament, told CCN he was not surprised by the sentence. “I thought it might be longer.”

“The part that hurts the most as a parishioner was when he got up and said he never did take any money from the parish,” Rock said, noting he had gone “up into the pulpit and lied to people.”

But Rock maintains his support for the priest and said he would welcome him back to ministry, though he does not expect he’ll ever be reassigned to Blessed Sacrament.

“If this happened to your mother or father would you abandon him?” he asked.

LeClair had a moment to meet with supporters and families in private in a vacant courtroom before he was escorted to jail. After saying goodbye to his family, he crossed the hallway to the elevator to applause from supporters.

The Archdiocese of Ottawa had no comment on the sentence.

His lawyer Matthew Webber had asked for an 18-month conditional sentence. He said he was disappointed by the sentence, but said it was defensible in law. Webber said LeClair was prepared for a possible prison term.