Lafayette diocese still hasn't released list of priests accused of sexual abuse

By Elaina Sauber
Lafayette Daily Advertiser
February 24, 2019

https://bit.ly/2SqCED0

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. Photo by Claire Taylor

Diocese of Lafayette, LA Bishop Douglas Deshotel

Attorney General Jeff Landry has clashed repeatedly with Gov. John Bel Edwards.

As nearly 200 leaders of the Roman Catholic Church from around the world convened at a first-ever summit on sexual abuse at the Vatican on Thursday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette still hadn't released a list of priests over the last half-century who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette said earlier this week that he expected the summit to address "pastoral outreach and accompaniment toward healing" for sexual abuse victims and the removal of any cleric who is guilty of abuse, and reporting those crimes to law enforcement. 

In a Daily Advertiser story first published on Feb. 11, diocesan spokeswoman Blue Rolfes said they hoped "within the next week or two to release the list." 

Nearly two weeks later, Rolfes hasn't responded to repeated phone calls and emails seeking an update on when the list will be published.

Members of the diocese's lay review board and local attorneys have spent months searching for accusations against clergy by combing through 50 years of personnel records for the hundreds of priests who have served in the diocese, Rolfes previously said.

Garnett Bedenbaugh, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests’ Louisiana chapter, said he’s “not surprised at all” that the Diocese of Lafayette and others have been slow to release the names.

“It’s like pulling hen’s teeth to get them to agree (to do it), and the lists being put out are not necessarily complete,” Bedenbaugh said. “I think as long as they’re dragging their feet, they may hope this thing might blow over again.”

Last month, a KATC-TV 3 investigation found 42 priests and a few non-clergy associated with the Diocese of Lafayette who were accused of sexual abuse. That's nearly three times higher than the 15 accused priests previously acknowledged by former Bishop Michael Jarrell in 2014. 

That investigation broke as Deshotel refused repeated attempts by The Daily Advertiser and other news outlets to release the list of accused priests. 

At least four of Lousiana's seven dioceses have released lists of clergy accused of sexual abuse since a Pennsylvania state grand jury report came out last year, which detailed explosive findings of more than 1,000 children abused over the decades by hundreds of priests.

The New Orleans archdiocese reported 57 accused clergy in its list, released in November, while the Baton Rouge diocese reported 37 names on its list, including one, Joseph Pelletieri, who also served at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Acadiana. 

Since the start of 2019, Alexandria and Houma-Thibodaux dioceses reported 17 and 14 names of clergy accused of sexual abuse, respectively. 

An official with the Diocese of Lake Charles said this week it's still reviewing its files, which will then be assessed and used to compile a list of names. It's unclear when the list will be complete.

Officials with the Diocese of Shreveport, which was first formed in 1986, say the diocese has never received an accusation of sexual abuse against one of its priests since its inception.

After the Pennsylvania grand jury report was released, other state attorneys general began to launch their own investigations into child sex abuse and cover ups in the Catholic Church. 

But that's not going to happen in Louisiana, where Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry said state law bars him from prosecuting criminal cases without the request of a district attorney. Landry also lacks the legal authority to launch a statewide prosecution against a person or group, according to his press secretary, Jacques Ambers.

Instead, Landry has encouraged victims of clergy sexual abuse to report those crimes to local law enforcement. 

"He has also encouraged potential victims to reach out to our office if they are unsure, and we will steer them to the appropriate law enforcement agency," Ambers said in a statement. That number is 800-256-4506.

Landry's office also doesn't plan to set up a hotline for clergy abuse victims to call, as has been done recently in Michigan and Maryland. 

"Considering the authority of the Attorney General in these matters, a hotline would be inappropriate," Ambers wrote in an email. 

Although Landry could assist with a criminal prosecution if requested by a local district attorney, that hasn't happened to date.

Bedenbaugh said he'd like to see state lawmakers introduce a bill during the upcoming legislative session that would allow the attorney general to get involved in clergy sex abuse investigations on a statewide level. 

Landry doesn't plan to propose that idea to legislators, Ambers said. It would require constitutional amendments that would also alter district attorneys' authority, he added.

As some cardinals attending the Vatican summit on Friday called for increased accountability in the church to punish religious superiors who protect predatory priests, Bedenbaugh isn’t convinced the meeting will lead to real change.

“I don’t know what the pope is really going to accomplish with this,” he said. “We need to get them to start walking the talk. Get people exposed and punished in some other way than just kicking them out of the church."

For Bedenbaugh, justice for survivors of clergy sex abuse means full disclosure from the Catholic Church of everyone who has been credibly accused, and following up "wherever possible" with criminal or civil legal action. 

He also believes church dioceses that oversaw priests who were later charged with sex crimes should provide funding to survivors in need of mental health resources.