Father Gordon Pillon
Diocese of Charlotte
Ordained: 1979
Removed: 2006
Deceased: June 2012
Assigned as follows:
- 1980-1983 Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (La Habra, CA)
- 1984-1987 St. Juliana Falconieri Church (Fullerton, CA)
- 1988-1989 St. Angela Merici Church, (Brea, CA)
- 1990 St. Columban Church (Garden Grove, CA)
- 1991-1993 On Duty Outside the Diocese
- 1991-1992 Newman Foundation Bradley Univ. & Illinois Central College, Peoria, IL)
- 1993-1996 St. Edward’s Church (Chillicothe, IL)
- 1997-1999 On Duty Outside the Diocese
- 1997 St. Vincent de Paul Church (Charlotte, NC)
- 1998-1999 St. Joseph Church (Newton, NC)
- 2000 St. John’s Catholic Chapel Church (Champaign, IL)
- 2001-2003 St. Patrick’s Church (Wapella, IL)
- 2001-2004 St. John the Baptist’s Church (Clinton, IL)
- 2003 Sacred Heart Church, (Farmer City, IL)
- 2004-2006 Queen of the Holy Rosary (La Salle, IL)
- 2004-2006 St. Hyacinth’s (La Salle, IL)
- 2004-2006 St. Patrick’s (La Salle, IL)
- 2006 Resurrection (La Salle, IL)
- 2007 On Leave of Absence
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Gordon Pillon:
Father Gordon Pillon was ordained a priest in 1979, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte. According to media reports, in May 2006, Father Pillon was a pastor in the Diocese of Peoria when he was asked to step down following allegations of sexual abuse. Church officials were not aware of any allegations against Father Pillon when he began working in central Illinois. A lawsuit filed in 2009 accused Father Pillon of repeatedly sexually abusing a boy approximately 25 years earlier, in the 1980s, when the boy was 15 to 18 years old. According to the lawsuit, at the time of abuse, Father Pillon was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in La Habra, California.
In April 2009, a former priest of 16 years filed suit alleging abuse by Father Pillon when he was a teenager in California. The plaintiff was allegedly forced out of the priesthood in 2006 after reporting Father Pillon’s abuse to the Diocese of Peoria. He claimed that Father Pillon molested him multiple times from 1978 to 1981 at the priest’s apartment in the rectory of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in La Habra. Father Pillon denied any wrongdoing,
The alleged victim said Father Pillon would play pornographic movies and sexually molest him during overnights at Father Pillon’s apartment.
“He gave me drugs and alcohol and I remained silent about it my entire life until recently,” Rodriguez said. “I’m encouraged and very relieved to finally come out and say I am a victim of abuse.”
“When I gave the report, I knew this would be the end of my ministry,” the victim said. “I told friends, ‘I am denouncing a priest and I will probably have to leave the priesthood as a result.’ The priesthood is a fraternity. If you go against it, you are in trouble.”
In 2009, Father Pillon was last reported to be working at the University of North Virginia campus in Prague, Czech Republic. He died in June 2012. His name appeared on the Diocese of Peoria’s list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in December 2018.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Orange in California. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in one of California’s Catholic dioceses, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Orange now have legal options due to a temporary change in California law, 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 California and nationwide. We can help.
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