LOUISIANA
The Advertiser
Katie de la Rosa August 4, 2014
The St. Edmond’s Catholic Church priest accused of sex crimes in the 1970s told parishioners Sunday that the allegations that he sexually abused a young boy and coerced young men into having sex with him are false.
“I maintained my innocence then, and I maintain my innocence now,” said the Rev. Gilbert Dutel to a packed sanctuary at the 11 a.m. Mass. The congregation gave him a standing ovation at the end of his five-minute address.
Dutel apologized to his church for having to “forfeit the time” to acknowledge this issue, which was raised last week by an extensive Minnesota Public Radio report that re-explored the widespread sexual abuse within the church in South Louisiana beginning in the 1970s. Similar crimes are alleged to have appeared in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Then-Diosese of Lafayette Bishop Harry Flynn “concluded the accusations weren’t credible,” Dutel said.
Flynn, however, along with predecessor Gerard Frey, has been accused of covering up allegations of priest pedophilia and sex abuse, including transferring accused priests, including the defrocked Gilbert Gauthe, from one church parish to another, The Daily Advertiser reported earlier this week.
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