LOUISIANA
The Daily Advertiser
Ken Stickney, kstickney@theadvertiser.com Aug. 9, 2017
Accusations of sex crimes involving Roman Catholic priests and Acadiana children might date back some seven decades, court records reveal. They also include two notorious court cases in the past few years.
The case of the Rev. F. David Broussard, whose scheduled Aug. 14 court appearance has been delayed until Nov. 27 in St. Martin Parish, is the most recent occurrence. Broussard is not accused of sexual contact with children, but the former Breaux Bridge pastor, 51, was charged in July 2016 with 500 counts of possession of child pornography. Some 500 images of children were found on his personal computer.
Broussard wrote a public letter of apology after his arrest but pleaded not guilty to the felony charges in May. He remains free on $25,000 bond. Most Rev. Douglas Deshotel, bishop of Lafayette, placed him on administrative leave and he performs no priestly duties.
But the Breaux Bridge case was not the only recent one to land a local priest in trouble. Former priest Mark A. Broussard, convicted in March 2016 of molesting altar boys in the neighboring diocese of Lake Charles in the late 1980s, was arrested in 2012 after a man wrote to Lake Charles Bishop Glen John Provost to reveal accusations against Broussard, who had served as a priest in several Catholic churches.
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