NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE - Fox 8 [New Orleans LA]
January 5, 2026
By Thanh Truong
GRETNA, La. (WVUE) – Gregory Aymond, the outgoing Archbishop of New Orleans, is scheduling 10 in-person group meetings with survivors of clergy sex abuse.
The first meeting will take place Feb. 6 at noon at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in New Orleans. The series of meetings is part of the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ recent multi-million bankruptcy settlement.
It follows a personal letter of apology from the archbishop that was published Jan. 3 and is circulating through Louisiana and some neighboring states’ media outlets. The apology letter is addressed to “All Child Sexual Abuse Claimants in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.”
New Orleans’ archdiocese issues public apology letter to clergy sex abuse victims
For some claimants, the apology contained in the letter rings hollow.
Ever since Jackie Berthelot joined a wave of lawsuits that led to the recent bankruptcy, he says some people treated him like an outcast in his hometown of Gretna.
“After this came out, I was shunned, I believe, by the hierarchy in the city of Gretna,” Berthelot said.
Berthelot says former Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker began abusing him when he was 12 years old.
Such abuse claims were at the center of the church bankruptcy. A fund of at least $230 million is meant to compensate abuse survivors. But as part of what the archdiocese calls its commitment to the non-monetary terms of the settlement, it published the letter in which Aymond apologizes to all claimants of child sex abuse in the archdiocese for the trauma caused by anyone within the Catholic Church.
The archbishop told survivors they are not to blame for the abuse, writing, “You were and are completely innocent and did nothing to deserve the pain you have suffered because of the hideous crime of sexual abuse of a minor.”
Berthelot says Aymond’s letter is late.
“When I first read it, I was taken aback by how long it took for Archbishop Aymond to come out with an apology letter such as this,” he said. “Archbishop Aymond knew as a priest there were pedophiles in the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.”
Another claimant, Johnny Krummel, said the letter “doesn’t mean anything to us.”
Krummel says clergy sexually and physically abused him when he was a boy at the Madonna Manor orphanage in Marrero. Krummel said he rejects Aymond’s apology.
“I don’t accept any apology from anybody that was involved with this bankruptcy,” Krummel said. “It just wasn’t fair. They have taken no responsibility for what happened at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor. Nobody went to jail, nothing.”
Krummel said he has his own conditions for meeting with Aymond.
“If he didn’t come here and meet with us at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor, I don’t want to meet with him,” Krummel said.
While the so called non-monetary provisions of the bankruptcy settlement are not requirements for Aymond’s pending retirement, the archbishop has said he plans to step down when the bankruptcy is finished.
Whenever that may be, Berthelot says Aymond will leave with a tarnished legacy.
“I think his legacy is that he’s going to have to live with this for the rest of his life,” Berthelot said.
Aymond’s apology letter can be read here.
The schedule of in-person meetings between the archbishop and survivors:
- Friday, Feb. 6, Noon — Holy Name of Jesus Parish, 6220 LaSalle Place, New Orleans
- Friday, Feb. 6, 7 p.m. — St. Peter Claver Parish office, 1910 Ursulines Ave., New Orleans
- Saturday, Feb. 7, 3 p.m. — St. Philip Neri Parish, 6500 Kawanee Ave., Metairie
- Saturday, Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. — St. Charles Borromeo Parish, 13396 River Road, Destrehan
- Sunday, Feb. 8, Noon — Our Lady of Prompt Succor Parish, 2320 Paris Rd., Chalmette
- Sunday, Feb. 8, 3 p.m. — St. Maria Goretti Parish, 7300 Crowder Blvd., New Orleans
- Monday, Feb. 9, 8:30 a.m. — St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, 3101 Eton St., New Orleans
- Monday, Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m. — Visitation of Our Lady Parish, 3500 Ames Blvd., Marrero
- Tuesday, Feb. 10, Noon — St. Luke the Evangelist Parish, 910 Cross Gates Blvd., Slidell
- Tuesday, Feb. 10, 6 p.m. — Most Holy Trinity Parish, 501 Holy Trinity Dr., Covington
By Thanh Truong
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