LOUISIANA
The Advertiser
By Claire Taylor
ctaylor@theadvertiser.com August 6, 2014
In December 2011, when the Diocese of Lake Charles received credible allegations that a former priest had sexually abused boys, church officials immediately reported it to police.
That’s what church leaders are supposed to do, according to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted in 2005 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“The Diocese of Lake Charles immediately reports any allegations involving the abuse of minors to the local authorities,” the Rev. Nathan Long wrote on behalf of the Diocese in a statement to The Daily Advertiser this week.
But that wasn’t the case before church reforms that grew out of priest sex scandals across the nation, starting in the Diocese of Lafayette in the 1980s with the notorious former priest, Gilbert Gauthe.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.