Lafayette diocese to name priests accused of sexual abuse Friday including 33 priests, 4 deacons

By Ashley White
Lafayette Daily Advertiser
April 10, 2019

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Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel opens the conference with a prayer at the Kopter Manufacturing Faciltiy Dedication.

A list of priests accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Lafayette area will be released Friday and includes 33 priests and four deacons, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette said.

More than 300,000 pages of materials from the 100-year history of the Diocese of Lafayette were inspected by the diocese's lay review board and local attorneys, the diocese noted in a statement Wednesday.

The documents included 802 clerics' files, 623 priests' files, and 179 deacons' files, Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel said in a letter. It took more than 700 hours of labor. 

In the letter, Deshotel said this will be an "ongoing process of accountability" and will be a change in attitude and approach.

"In other words, the future receipt and subsequent determination of any new credible allegation against a priest or deacon, living or deceased, will result in adding his name to the disclosure list," he wrote. "In fact, we have reasonable hope that the disclosure list will be a catalyst for continued reporting of past or future instances of abuse."

The names on the list may come as a shock to some family and friends, he added. And the opposite may happen. Victims who reported sexual abuse by a priest or deacon may not see their name on a list because "the standard for establishing credibility may not yet have been met," the letter said.

"I sincerely acknowledge and appreciate the courage of those who have already come forward with accusations," Deshotel wrote. "Receiving each individual report was essential to ensuring the safety of others and to helping the church publicly acknowledge its sins and errors."

The Lafayette diocese is one of two in the state that have not yet released a comprehensive list of priests who had credible complaints of sexual abuse made against them. The Diocese of Lake Charles is the other.

The state's four other dioceses have released their information.

For the past year, dioceses across the nation have released similar lists naming hundreds of priests, both alive and deceased, who face or have faced what were determined to be credible accusations of sexual abuse.

Louisiana victims of abuse from a priest have been encouraged to call the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation's hotline at 800-256-4506.