NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV
August 7, 2019
By Rob Masson
A Metairie man has come forward about the abuse he says he faced at the hands of a prominent deceased monsignor, 42 years ago.
George Bertucci received a large settlement from the Archdiocese of New Orleans related to his accusations against Henry Bezou, who he says raped him in 1977. Bertucci said the abuse started at St. Francis Xavier Church in Metairie on his very first day as a 9-year-old altar boy.
“There were other altar boys who served mass, and one of them tapped me on the shoulder, and said ‘Monsignor Bezou wants to talk to you,’” Bertucci recalled.
Bertucci said he did what the older boys told him to do, and went into the church sacristy after mass. There, he said he witnessed other boys touching themselves inappropriately in the presence of Bezou.
“After the other boys did it, I thought I needed to do it to become a man,” Bertucci said.
He then said then Bezou — a longtime priest at Saint Francis Xavier and former superintendent of Archdiocese schools — told the other boys to leave.
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