LOUISIANA
Democrat-Gazette
By The Associated Press
Posted: February 28, 2016
BATON ROUGE — A Louisiana judge struck down a state requirement that clergy members report suspected child abuse even if they learn about it during a private confessional.
State District Judge Mike Caldwell ruled Friday that the requirement — a Louisiana Children’s Code provision — violates the constitutionally protected religious freedom rights of a Roman Catholic priest accused of neglecting his duty to report a teenager’s abuse allegations to authorities.
The Advocate reports that Caldwell ruled in favor of the Rev. Jeff Bayhi in a lawsuit that Rebecca Mayeaux, 22, filed against the priest and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge in 2009.
Mayeaux says she was 14 in 2008 when she told Bayhi during confession that a 64-year-old parishioner was sexually abusing her. Mayeaux claims Bayhi, pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption church in Clinton, told her to “sweep it under the floor and get rid of it.”
The Associated Press does not usually identify victims of sexual abuse, but Mayeaux went public with her case in a 2014 interview with WBRZ-TV.
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