LOUISIANA
The Advertiser
Claire Taylor July 31, 2014
Bishop Michael Jarrell may ask a confidential review board to advise him with regard to sexual abuse allegations made in 1992 against a priest still ministering in Lafayette.
But Jarrell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette, doesn’t plan on re-opening an investigation into the claims made by a 26-year-old man in 1992 against the Rev. Gilbert Dutel, who is pastor at St. Edmond Catholic Church.
The Daily Advertiser submitted questions to Jarrell on Wednesday, and Thursday via email to Monsignor Richard Greene, the diocese’s media liaison, after learning about the 1992 accusations.
In a sworn statement, the accuser said that when he was a boy in Vermilion Parish Dutel was a family friend and priest who abused him over several years. He also accused two other priests of molestation, one of whom was convicted of molestation in Washington state and the other who admitted to abusing children and later committed suicide in Virginia in 2012 when some of his victims confronted his wife about his past.
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