VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Acadian News First [Lafayette, LA]
October 19, 2026
By Jim Hummel
More than two years after Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel excommunicated a deacon whose son was molested by a priest, the Vatican has rejected an appeal by the former deacon.
Scott Peyton resigned from the diaconate in December 2023, citing “distressing revelations regarding sexual abuse scandals involving members of the clergy.”
His son was molested by Father Michael Guidry while Peyton served alongside Guidry as a deacon at St. Peter Catholic Church in Morrow. Guidry, who confessed to the molestation, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence.
“The magnitude of these revelations has deeply shaken my faith and trust in the institution to which I have dedicated a significant portion of my life,” Peyton wrote in his resignation letter to Bishop Deshotel. “This decision is not a rejection of my faith in God or my commitment to living a life guided by Christian principles. Instead, it reflects a conscientious objection to the way the Church has handled cases of sexual abuse, and a desire to distance myself from an institution that, currently, falls short of the values it professes.”
Peyton and his family briefly joined an Anglican church before joining a non-denominational congregation. Then several months later, he received a decree from Bishop Deshotel stating that he had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Worried that his excommunication, the church’s most severe form of censure, sent a harmful message to survivors of clergy sex abuse, Peyton filed an appeal with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) at the Vatican.
“[The bishop] had imposed the Church’s highest punishment upon Deacon Peyton while failing to impose any equivalent punishment on the priest who abused his son,” said Peyton’s canon lawyer, Dawn Eden Goldstein.
Peyton and Goldstein met with Bishop Deshotel within the last week, and he delivered the DDF’s ruling on the appeal.
“The DDF’s ruling upheld Bishop Deshotel’s excommunication of my client,” said Goldstein. “At the same time, it acknowledged the pastoral failures of Bishop Deshotel that led my client to feel that, to preserve the Christian faith of his six children, he had to worship outside the Catholic Church. Although my client absolutely rejects the DDF’s decision, which he intends to appeal, he notes that the DDF shows far more sensitivity to the harms that his family has suffered than Bishop Deshotel ever has.”
In its ruling, the DDF wrote “…this Congresso acknowledges that Bishop Deshotel could have been more explicit in warning Deacon Peyton about the canonical consequences of his proposed course of action.”
“Deacon Peyton’s desire to remove himself and his family from a situation that had become untenable, along with his desire to preserve his family’s faith in Christ, are both noble desires. These goals, however, do not justify a formal separation from the Roman Pontiff and communion with the members of the Church subject to him. In deciding to separate himself from the Catholic Church, and in being formally received into Trinity Anglican Church, Deacon Peyton intentionally separated himself ex communione Ecclesiae Catholicae.”
Goldstein says during their meeting with Bishop Deshotel, the bishop also confirmed Fr. Guidry has not been censured in the same way as Peyton.
“…I had heard from several sources and was certain to be the case — that [the bishop] told the DDF that his desire was that Father Guidry should remain a priest on account of his age. Bishop Deshotel finally admitted that it was true.”
Goldstein also questions the integrity and fairness of the appeal process with the DDF.
“The public should know that the decree was produced under a system of justice utterly foreign to students of civil law of the type that is practiced in democratic countries. When a Catholic appeals a decision of his or her bishop to the DDF, the Dicastery’s rules dictate that it may not communicate directly with the one who makes the appeal. Instead, all DDF communications go through the bishop. So, the person who complains against his bishop is dependent upon that very same bishop to keep him informed of developments in the case,” she said.
Peyton plans further appeals to The Vatican.
“I am disappointed in the DDF’s decision to uphold my excommunication. However, I am not discouraged,” he said. “I will continue to speak out about the lasting harm caused by clergy sexual abuse. My hope is that every victim finds the healing and justice they deserve, and that those responsible are held accountable. It is the state’s responsibility to prosecute and punish crimes. It is the Church’s sacred duty to protect the faithful and hold its own clergy accountable. That commitment remains deeply personal to me, and this decision will not change it.”
Here are the documents from the DDF: See the original article for documenation