LAFAYETTE (LA)
Lafayette Daily Advertiser
April 10, 2019
By Ashley White
A list of priests accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Lafayette area will be released Friday and includes 33 priests and four deacons, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette said.
The diocese said ahead of the release of names that more than 300,000 pages of materials from the 100-year history of the Diocese of Lafayette were inspected by the diocese’s lay review board and local attorneys. The documents included 802 clerics’ files, 623 priests’ files, and 179 deacons’ files, Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel said in a letter. It took more than 700 hours of labor.
In the letter, Deshotel said his will be an “ongoing process of accountability” and will change in attitude and approach.
“In other words, the future receipt and subsequent determination of any new credible allegation against a priest or deacon, living or deceased, will result in adding his name to the disclosure list,” he wrote. “In fact, we have reasonable hope that the disclosure list will be a catalyst for continued reporting of past or future instances of abuse.”
The names on the list may come as a shock to some family and friends, he added. And the opposite may happen. Victims who reported sexual abuse by a priest or deacon may not see his name on a list because “the standard for establishing credibility may not yet have been met,” the letter said.
“I sincerely acknowledge and appreciate the courage f those who have already come forward with accusations,” Deshotel wrote. “Receiving each individual report was essential to ensuring the safety of others and to helping the Church publicly acknowledge its sins and errors.”
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