The Rev. Kenneth Fleck and the Rev. Thomas Conde have been asked to cease ministry during investigations into allegations included in forthcoming lawsuits of past sexual abuse of minors, the Archdiocese of Chicago said in letters signed Monday by Cardinal Blase Cupich.
The archdiocese said that both Fleck and Conde strongly deny having ever abused anyone, but both were being asked to step away from all ministry and live away from any parish while the archdiocese investigates the allegations “out of an abundance of caution and in keeping with our child protection policies.”
“Our request to learn the exact nature of the claim through an interview of the person making the accusation has been denied, yet as a matter of transparency we are making it known that a legal case will be filed in court,” the archdiocese said in both cases.
The archdiocese declined to comment further on litigation.
Fleck has served congregations across Chicago and the south suburbs, including St. George Catholic Church in Tinley Park, for five decades.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred over 30 years ago at Our Lady of Peace Parish on the South Side of Chicago, where Fleck was pastor from 1984 until 1996, according to the archdiocese.
Our Lady of Peace was later merged with St. Bride, Our Lady Gate of Heaven and St. Philip Neri and consolidated into St. Josephine Bakhita Parish. The Rev. Thomas Belanger, St. Josephine Bakhita’s current pastor, declined to comment, saying Fleck’s time at the parish predated him.
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Fleck, who could not be reached for comment, was pastor at St. George from 2003 until 2020. He retired from that position in 2020, but has remained active in ministry.
St. George celebrated Fleck’s 50-year anniversary of entering the priesthood in June, when he presided over a special Mass attended by an estimated 700 people.
Versions of the letter from the archdiocese were shared on social media by St. George and by St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Oak Lawn, where Fleck was an administrator in 2022.
The Rev. Paul Seaman, who succeeded Fleck at St. George, shared a statement on the church’s social media suggesting the lawsuit might be a result of hedge funds fronting money to plaintiffs to target Catholic priests.
“This is the cloud that every priest lives under today, and unfortunately, our friend, Father Ken, is the latest,” Seaman’s statement read. “Note that the accuser has not come forward to the Archdiocese but is going right to the civil courts. More importantly, Father Ken is clear about his innocence.”
Because of the church’s history of hiding and protecting perpetrators of abuse, Seaman said, archdiocesan processes for handling allegations are now very strict, and sometimes result in innocent priests being asked to step aside.
Seaman asked in his statement that community members “pray for all true victims of abuse and pray for Father Ken that this will be resolved quickly and he can return to the ministry he has so loved for fifty years.”
Fleck also served St. Jude the Apostle Parish in South Holland as an associate pastor from 2002 to 2003, which was later combined into Christ Our Savior Parish, the de facto home parish of Pope Leo XIV.
Conde was pastor of St. James Parish in Sauk Village from 1993 to 2003, the archdiocese said. St. James was later consolidated into All Souls Catholic Parish in Lansing.
The abuse he’s accused of is alleged to have taken place at St. James more than 20 years ago, according to the archdiocese.
Conde was pastor of Christ the King in Beverly from 2007 to 2014, and as pastor of St. Christina in Mount Greenwood from 2014 to 2024, the archdiocese said.
Most recently, he was associate pastor of St. John of the Cross in Western Springs from July 2024 until the end of 2025. A farewell Mass marking his retirement was held January 2026, according to St. John of the Cross’s social media.