From Mike Lewis at Where Peter Is:
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto issued a canonical warning on June 1, 2026, to retired Deacon David Leatherby Jr. of his diocese. In the decree, the bishop said he had been informed that Deacon Leatherby was cooperating with illicit Masses celebrated in nearby Placer County by his son, Jeremy Leatherby — excommunicated for schism in August 2020 and returned to the lay state later that year — and urged the deacon to stop. Soto warned that if the deacon continued, the bishop would begin a formal process that could lead to “the imposition of just canonical penalties, including removal from the clerical state.”
Deacon Leatherby sent his reply on August 22, 2026, rejecting the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV and Soto’s authority. “Since you recognize Leo as your pope,” he wrote, “I cannot in good conscience place myself under your spiritual authority.”
Two days later, he emailed Soto’s decree, his reply, and a 17-page document entitled “An Explanation of the Times We Live In” to his mailing list.
Related: Excommunicated priest returned to the lay state
In the document, Deacon Leatherby lays out an apocalyptic and conspiratorial vision of the present state of the Catholic Church and the world. He claims that the Church is experiencing the “Great Apostasy” foretold in Scripture, paralleling Christ’s Passion, and repeatedly describes the Church led by Pope Leo as a “false church” under Satan’s control. Deacon Leatherby’s narrative is rooted in alleged private revelations, lengthy quotes from purported Marian messages, and a series of claims about widespread corruption and immorality in the hierarchy.
Together, the documents offer a view of what has taken shape in the six years since Jeremy Leatherby was laicized and withdrew from public view: a congregation and deliverance ministry preparing for the end times, convinced that the visible Church has been replaced with an evil counterfeit. Two self-published books help explain the beliefs sustaining it.
It’s an extraordinary story. Read it all.
It concludes with this prayerful plea from the Sacramento bishop:
“Jesus, the Good Shepherd, never tires of gathering us into the merciful communion of His one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. May Mary, Mother of the Church, intercede for us, that the Most Sacred Heart of her Son may heal all divisions among us, and unite all minds and hearts to His so that we may all be one in Christ.”
