The Diocese of Lafayette excommunicated former deacon Scott Peyton after he resigned and told the diocese that sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the molestation of his son by a priest had “shaken my faith and trust in the institution.”

Priest Michael Guidry pleaded guilty in 2019 to molesting Peyton’s child, who was 16 at the time, four years earlier. Guidry, 78, provided alcohol to Peyton’s son and molested him in his intoxicated state, according to a related lawsuit and a confession by the priest.

Peyton and Guidry served together at St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, a tiny rural town in the northern reaches of St. Landry Parish. 

On Dec. 4, Peyton wrote to Lafayette Diocese Bishop Douglas Deshotel that after “deep reflection” he had chosen to “leave the Catholic Church and the diaconate” and step away from his position at the Cursillo Training…