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	Sex Charges against Priest Embroil Louisiana Parents By Jon Nordheimer New York Times June 20, 1985 http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/20/us/sex-charges-against-priest-embroil-louisiana-parents.html The admission by a Roman Catholic priest that he sexually abused 37 children entrusted to his care has aroused a deep sense of betrayal and shame in this small rural community in southwestern Louisiana. Altar boys and members of the parish Boy Scout troop were among those molested by the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe, 40 years old, according to felony charges of sexual abuse lodged against him by the local authorities. Father Gauthe, who has been suspended by his Bishop and is currently confined to a private psychiatric hospital in Connecticut, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 34 counts of molestation. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment at hard labor. Assuming that the case reaches the trial stage - no date has yet been set -it may be the first time that a priest has faced such charges in an American court of law, according to The National Catholic Reporter, which has carried a number of articles on the case. Meanwhile, aggrieved parents are suing the local diocese, seeking compensation and treatment for their abused children. So far the diocese and its insurance companies have paid $4.2 million to the families of nine children. But more than a dozen additional civil suits have been filed as more families overcome their hesitance to seek redress from a church that has been a bedrock of their lives. He Was a Boy Scout Chaplain Lawyers for the parents now say that, over several years, as many as 70 children were assaulted by Father Gauthe in hundreds of individual acts of sodomy, rape and the photographing of sexual acts. Anguish and seething anger have also been directed at the church after it was learned that Father Gauthe had been reassigned to St. John's, the parish church in Henry, after suspicions were raised about his behavior with young boys at two parishes he served previously. The Rt. Rev. Gerard Frey, Bishop of the Lafayette Diocese, acknowledged in a legal deposition taken in connection with the civil suits that he confronted the priest in 1974. The priest, according to the Bishop, admitted he was guilty of "imprudent touches" with a young man and vowed it was an isolated case that would not recur. The following year the Bishop appointed Father Gauthe chaplain of the diocesan Boy Scouts. In 1977, the year before he was moved to Henry, similar complaints were made by parents to the priest's superiors, and Father Gauthe was directed to seek psychiatric treatment. A Louisiana judge has ordered the principals in the suits not to comment, and the diocesan office in Lafayette said it had been asked by its insurance companies to remain silent. But the case has stirred national currents of concern within the church. A Reminder in New Jersey "We don't want to give the impression that it's a rampant problem for the church, because it is not," said the Rev. Kenneth Doyle, a spokesman for the United States Catholic Conference in Washington. "But even one case is too many." Last month the New Jersey Catholic Conference issued guidelines to parochial school principals and teachers, reminding them of the requirement of complying with the state's child abuse reporting law, which charges all citizens with the responsibility of reporting acts of child abuse to the authorities. The guidelines also instructed that similar reports be made to school superintendents or the diocesan office if church "employees - priests, nuns and lay teachers" were involved, according to William Bolan, executive director of the state conference. It is feared by some in the church that publicity over the Louisiana case and the resultant suits may encourage families of child abuse victims elsewhere to seek damages. Just last week another priest in Lousiana who runs a home for boys returned to Florida to face a felony charge that he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old Tampa boy last year. "The tragedy and scandal," The National Catholic Reporter said in an editorial last week on the Lousiana case, "is not only with the actions of the individual priests - these are serious enough - but with church structures in which bishops, chanceries and seminaries fail to respond to complaints, or even engage in cover-ups." Periodic Review Suggested Some of the victims were as young as 7 years, according to parents and investigators. A lawyer involved in the case, who asked not to be identified, said he hoped the revelations would encourage the church to reconsider periodically the competency of its priests. "If school boards can recertify teachers after 15 years, why can't the church review the competency of its priests?" asked the lawyer. F. Ray Mouton Jr. of Lafayette, the lawyer hired by the church to represent the priest at the upcoming trial, said his client was determined not to do anything that might further damage the children. "He's going to admit it all," Mr. Mouton said. "We will prove that he did those things. To do otherwise would force all these kids to come into the courtroom and testify." Henry, situated on the edge of freshwater marshes and bayous not far from the Gulf of Mexico, is a sparsely settled, French-speaking community connected by road and ferry to the few hundred residents in the hamlet of Esther, who were also served by Father Gauthe. The disclosures have been devastating for two communities made of hard-working farmers and oilfield workers. A Change in Attitude Reaction to the scandal has been deeply divided. Glenn and Faye Gastal, who owned a local feed store, were forced out of business after they were among the first parents to make public the sexual abuse of their son, now 10. Resentment ran high, the Gastals said, among those who felt it wrong to attack the church in public. "Neighbor have been set against neighbor," said one man close to the situation who asked that he not be identified. Like nearly everyone in this corner of Vermillion Parish, speaking out in public on the emotionally charged case is regarded as foolhardy. "At first everyone wanted to circle the wagons and protect the church," he observed. "Then they were afraid the civil suits would be taking money out of their own pockets because they are the ones who support the diocese. But the mood has changed. Now they want to know what the church has done to make sure this kind of crime doesn't happen again." Inevitably, said another resident, "a big guessing game developed over which kids were involved with the priest," and the sense of guilt drove the children to protect their secrets with ever-growing shame. There is growing concern that the abused children will face psychological problems. "I think these children are like Humpty Dumpty - they've been broken and to some extent they may not be put back together again," said Raul R. Bencomo, one of the lawyers who won the $4.2 million settlement from the church. "Children who have been abused, particularly by a figure of authority -someone they called father - go through several phases of guilt. A lot of the kids have very deep-rooted guilt feelings." One of the abused boys has been sent to a hospital in Texas for treatment of emotional disturbance that his parents say was produced by the trauma of his relations with the priest.
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