Local diocese will not add former priest to credibly accused list

HOUMA (LA)
Houma Daily Courier via Houma Today

September 15, 2020

By Dan Copp

A priest accused of sexual abuse who served in Houma 45 years ago will not be added to the local diocese’s list of “credibly accused” priests, church officials said.

On Aug. 18, Archbishop Gregory P. Aymond added the Rev. Henry Brian Highfill to the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ list of priests with credible accusations of child sexual abuse.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, asked local Bishop Shelton Fabre to also include Highfill on the local list.

Highfill, who now lives in Las Vegas, served at St. Frances de Sales in Houma in 1975, according to New Orleans SNAP leader Kevin Bourgeois. The 78-year-old priest has been accused of abusing children from 1975 to 1981.

Because the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was formed two years after Highfill left, Fabre said he decided not to include his name on the list.

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