NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Nola.com [New Orleans, LA]
November 6, 2026
By Stephanie Riegel
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has added 27 priests to its list of clergy members credibly accused of child sexual abuse, the single-biggest release of new names since the original disclosures in 2018 and a sign of how the local Roman Catholic Church’s bankruptcy unearthed additional instances of abuse from decades ago.
All of the priests added to the list are deceased. A review of the new names, which was released by the archdiocese on Friday, shows that the abuse spanned several decades, in some instances as recently as the 1990s, and occurred across the region in large urban and suburban parishes as well as small, rural communities.
Several well-known priests were named who spent years working with children in the city’s Catholic schools, including: Monsignor Henry Bezou, a longtime pastor at St. Francis Xavier in Old Metairie and the Archdiocesan School Superintendent from 1943 to 1968; the Rev. Paul Hart, the Chaplain at Archbishop Chapelle High School in the 1990s and at Brother Martin High School from 2019 to 2021; and Rev. Benjamin Piovan, a chaplain at St. Charles Borromeo in the 1970s who also taught at several other schools.
Archdiocese of New Orleans names more priests accused of sex abuse. Here is the list.
Archbishop James Checchio said the move to release additional names signals the local church’s commitment to greater transparency in the wake of its $300 million settlement with abuse survivors, which included promises to publicly release more information and church records.
Checchio’s predecessor, Archbishop Gregory Aymond, released the original list of 57 disgraced clergy in 2018 amid growing allegations of child sex abuse by priests, deacons and other religious. In the years since, the list had grown to 79 before the latest release.
“This is an important step for our archdiocese,” Checchio said in a letter to the archdiocese’s 500,000 Catholics. “We need to follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead, and together ensure that the crimes and sins of child sexual abuse nor any crimes would be kept secret or repeated.”
New names and old
The names released Friday include 10 diocesan priests who served in the local archdiocese as well as 17 from other orders — like the Dominicans and Jesuits — or from other dioceses who allegedly committed abuse while ministering here.
The names all surfaced on claims that were filed as part of the bankruptcy, according to Checchio’s letter. When he took over from Aymond in February, he said he asked the church’s Independent Review Board to investigate each of the claims. Those deemed credible were added to the list.
Several names are already well known because the allegations were publicized and the priests had been removed from ministry.
Among them was Rev. Rodney Howell, a priest in the Diocese of Amarillo Texas, who, with his brother, Fr. Jerry Howell, was accused of molesting students at the school for the deaf in New Orleans in the 1960s.
Rev. Joseph deWater, another addition to the list, was suspended in 2020 following allegations that archdiocese officials said were referred to law enforcement. Nine claims were filed in the bankruptcy proceeding related to deWater, who had been the archdiocese’s spiritual director for Girl Scouts in the 1970’s. He moved to the Netherlands and died in 2023.
Also added to the list was Hart, the former chaplain at Brother Martin and Chapelle high schools whose actions featured prominently in the church bankruptcy case.
And Gilbert Gauthe, a Lafayette-area priest in the mid-20th century whose abuse allegations were among the first to surface more than 30 years ago, also was finally included.
It is not clear why the archdiocese waited so long to add some of those names to the list. But in his letter, Checchio said by including them now, “it will be tangible acknowledgment of the suffering endured by survivors.”
Questions about transparency
The new disclosures follow accusations earlier this fall by the independent trustee overseeing the bankruptcy settlement that the archdiocese was refusing to investigate nearly a dozen clergy members accused of abuse whose names had surfaced during the claims process.
The trustee, attorney Don Massey, said the allegations against the clergy members were previously found by the archdiocese’s review board to be credible yet had they had never been publicly named.
Massey said the lack of transparency was “morally repugnant.”
A spokesperson for the archdiocese said at the time that Checchio had ordered a review of all deceased archdiocesan clergy named in a proof of claim and said that the review was underway.
It is unclear how many of the 11 clergy members Massey referenced in his court filing were added to the list Friday. Massey declined to comment.
For some survivors, the latest disclosure provided a sense of validation and was long overdue.
“I think I’m gonna have a party. He’s supposed to be on that damn list,” said George Bertucci, who reported in 2019 that he was raped as a 9-year-old altar boy by Bezou in the sacristy of St. Francis Xavier Church. Bezou had been superintendent of Archdiocese schools for 25 years before then.
Bertucci’s was one of three allegations the archdiocese reported receiving against Bezou in its release Friday. In 2019, under Aymond, the archdiocese declined to place Bezou on its list of credibly accused priests “without additional information.”
Another survivor, whose abuser, Rev. Louis Meteye, a former associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in New Orleans, was among the new names added to the list, said through a statement provided by attorney Kristi Schubert that the recent developments are a positive step forward.
“I’m relieved that the archdiocese is finally acknowledging all the harm done to me and other children,” said the survivor, who asked not to be identified.
LSU database
The disclosures comes nearly a year after the archdiocese resolved its long-running bankruptcy case. In addition to the $300 million trust to be distributed among survivors, the church agreed to implement new child protection measures, abuse reporting protocols and greater transparency around clergy sex abuse.
Those provisions require the archdiocese to list the names of accused priests and the dates and locations of the abuse allegations on its website. It also requires that the church establish a database of all clergy named in three or more abuse claims in the bankruptcy — whether or not the claims are deemed credible. That database, currently in the process of being established, will be housed at LSU.
The archdiocese on Friday released the full list of all those whose records will be included in the database, Checchio said.
“My heart is heavy as I make these announcements today,” said Checchio in his letter. “My heart is heavy for the survivors … my heart is heavy for you who knew and perhaps even ministered with or were shepherded by priests who have been implicated.”
It is unclear when the database will go live but when it does, the archdiocese will link to it on its website, he said.
A decadeslong scandal
The addition of the names to the credibly accused list presents new information about the abuse scandal while also illustrating how the full scope of the crisis was unknown to the public for decades.
None of the allegations against the priests on the list are new and survivors who named them in claims filings are not entitled to sue the archdiocese of their parishes over the abuse. Most of the priests have been dead for years if not decades.
Checchio, 60, who was tapped by the Vatican to succeed Aymond as the bankruptcy was wrapping up in late 2025, was set to start over with a fresh slate and a focus on rebuilding the archdiocese and restoring trust in the institution.
In his first year, he has set out to do so, visiting churches, schools and ministries across the archdiocese on a rigorous schedule and connecting with key business, civic and nonprofit leaders.
But he has also been dragged back into the bankruptcy post-settlement process from time to time, showing up in court and responding to criticism. In his letter Friday, Checchio said he is hopeful that the local church will move forward together.
“For I know that it is only the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ that can relieve the heaviness of my heart, and the hearts of so many who continue to bear the pain caused by abuse,” his letter said.
Staff writers Matt Bruce, Marco Cartolano, Julia Guilbeau and John Simerman contributed reporting to this report.
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate.com.