LAFAYETTE (LA)
The Advocate [Baton Rouge LA]
December 27, 2025
By Claire Taylor
At least 13 lawsuits were filed in 2025, one as recently as Dec. 17, against the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, alleging sexual abuse by priests and other employees against minors across Acadiana, bringing the total pending lawsuits filed since June 2024 to about 50.
The Louisiana Supreme Court in June 2024 upheld a Louisiana law giving abuse survivors a three-year window — until June 14, 2027 — to sue for damages.
The Catholic Diocese of Lafayette had challenged a 2021 “look back” law, arguing in court that it violated due process rights. The Supreme Court disagreed, opening the door for victims to file lawsuits against the diocese, churches and others.
The lawsuits filed in 2025 in the 15th Judicial District, which includes Lafayette, involve allegations of abuse at churches and schools in Church Point in Acadia Parish, Abbeville and Gueydan in Vermilion Parish, East Cameron in Cameron Parish, Grand Prairie in St. Landry Parish, Breaux Bridge in St. Martin Parish, Berwick in St. Mary Parish and New Iberia in Iberia Parish.
One of the lawsuits was filed in August by Ken Seward of Virginia, the husband of a deceased victim who allegedly reported her abuse to diocesan leaders under three bishops. Instead of being fired, her alleged abuser was sent to counseling and later promoted to monsignor. The victim’s entire file with the diocese allegedly disappeared.
Two of the most recent lawsuits allege abuse by former priest Gilbert Gauthe, a defrocked Acadiana clergyman who is believed to be the first priest in the country to be criminally indicted for sexually abusing hundreds of children.
Gauthe pleaded guilty to molesting 34 children and was sentenced in 1985 to 20 years in prison. He was released after serving only 10 years and today lives in Dickinson, Texas, between Houston and Galveston.
A May lawsuit alleges an altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Iberia in the 1970s was abused by the Rev. Ronald Layne Fontenot every time he attended church between 1975 and 1977.
On one occasion, the victim alleges, he was brought to the bedroom of Gauthe at the church rectory, where he alleges he was raped.
Court hearings are scheduled in several of the lawsuits in 2026. Seward’s lawsuit goes before 15th Judicial District Court Judge Thomas Duplantier in February.
The diocese is attempting to dismiss the lawsuit because the victim is deceased, because the plaintiff has not produced a certificate of merit from a mental health practitioner and because a lawsuit filed by the victim before her death is pending in the 15th Judicial District.
Fifteenth Judicial District Court Judge Michelle Breaux in November ruled on three motions by the diocese in a case filed in July by a defendant alleging he was sexually assaulted by Stanley Begnaud, a priest at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Berwick in the 1960s.
Breaux denied the diocese’s motion alleging no cause in vicarious liability and negligent infliction of emotional distress in the case.
The judge sustained a defense motion alleging nonconformity and ordered the victim to file under seal his full name. Breaux also sustained a motion of no cause of action, writing that any causes of action based on any Ecclesiastical Doctrine, Canon Law, clergy malpractice or other religious documents” are dismissed with prejudice.
In October 2024, 15th Judicial District Judge Thomas Frederick shot down several court challenges by Gil Dozier, attorney for the diocese, but granted one. Frederick ordered the plaintiff to file a document under seal with the victim’s full name, date of birth, Social Security number and current address.
Frederick said the law requires a name to file a lawsuit. Most of the sex abuse victims file lawsuits under pseudonyms.
Reagan Thomas, an attorney in Florida who represents 12 victims in the Diocese of Lafayette, including two who allegedly were abused by Gauthe, said it is not necessary to re-traumatize victims and stir up the shame and fear from the abuse by forcing them to identify themselves, even when the file is sealed.
“Judges all over the country allow child sex abuse victims to use pseudonyms” in sex abuse cases, Thomas said.
She said the tactic is meant to intimidate victims and delay the cases.
“The dilatory tactics are extraordinary,” Thomas said. “There’s no forward motion on any of these cases.”
Thomas said she and other attorneys on similar cases against the diocese “are sick of the game. We want to move forward and give our clients their day in court.”
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Lafayette did not return a call for comment on this story.