Excommunicated Catholic deacon still waiting on overdue appeal outcome after his son was molested by priest | Louisiana
A Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic priest after a priest abused his son and was subsequently completely excommunicated from the church by his local bishop is asking global church leaders to update him on the fate of his appeal against the bishop’s decision; This issue should have been resolved more than a year ago.
A canon law attorney representing Scott Peyton argues in a letter to the Vatican body responsible for ecclesiastical discipline that his case “is nuanced and requires careful consideration.” “The delay is grateful to the extent that it reflects such care,” said the letter to the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), drafted by Dawn Eden Goldstein on February 3 and recently obtained by the Guardian.
However, the letter continued: Peyton “wants me to inform you that, from his perspective, the inordinately long period of time without hearing from your office has compounded the injustices he and his family have suffered at the hands of the church.”
Peyton’s plight made international news headlines in March 2024; Many media outlets described her excommunication as an extremely harsh consequence the child molester had never faced before; because, in short, the church does not view the abuser’s crime as excommunicable in itself.
Peyton was appointed priest in 2012 in Louisiana’s Lafayette diocese, about 130 miles west of New Orleans. Deacons are largely similar to priests, but can join the clergy even though they are married.
A priest with whom Peyton served at St. Peter’s church in Morrow, Louisiana, admitted to molesting the priest’s teenage son, Oliver, and was arrested by authorities, about six years after the priest’s appointment.
Michael Guidry, now 83, later admitted to abusing altar server Oliver Peyton. He was sentenced to seven years in prison after the church welcomed him with a farewell dinner organized by the diocese. I was forced to apologize.
Peyton said in 2021 he, his wife Letitia, and Oliver secured a $350,000 settlement from the Lafayette diocese to resolve a civil lawsuit without a trial. Meanwhile, the Peytons became advocates for survivors of clergy abuse. And in December 2023, Scott Peyton decided he was no longer fit to serve as a deacon in his diocese, quit and continued attending the congregation of an Anglican church.
Lafayette bishop J Douglas Deshotel responded to these developments by issuing a decree dated March 13, 2024, declaring Peyton excommunicated, effective immediately.
“I realize your family is going through trauma, but the solution does not lie in abandoning the Holy Eucharist,” Deshotel wrote, adding: “We are not Catholic because the church is…perfect.”
For devout Catholics, excommunication is the most severe punishment, preventing those who receive it from participating in certain sacraments, as a way to shock them into reconsidering their sinful behavior before death condemns them to damnation. The most famous Catholic excommunicators include Henry VIII (for divorce and remarriage), Napoleon Bonaparte (for annexing the Papal States in Italy to France), and Martin Luther (for sparking the Reformation).
Peyton formally appealed his excommunication in May 2024, arguing in part that “there was no pastoral goodness to accomplish” in his condemnation. He also argued that his excommunication made his wife and six children feel unwelcome in the Catholic church, meaning the sentence “damaged the spiritual lives of eight Catholics.”
This appeal apparently initiated a decision process that usually had to be completed within three months.
Deshotel wrote a letter to Peyton five months later in October 2024, informing him that his appeal “material has been received and is currently being considered by DDF.” The bishop said he sent this letter at the behest of the DDF secretary, Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy.
More than a year had passed since Goldstein wrote to Kennedy in early February, requesting at least an update on the status of his client’s appeal. He argued that the “harm” cited in Peyton’s appeal “continues every day.” [it] remains unanswered.”
Goldstein also wrote a letter to Kennedy, asking Oliver Peyton to provide information about Guidry’s “current canonical status and any penalties that may have been imposed on him” after Guidry’s guilty plea.
There was no response to either inquiry as of Saturday.
Moreover, neither a spokesman for the Lafayette diocese nor Guidry’s criminal defense attorney immediately responded when he sent a message asking whether he had been laicized or removed from the priesthood.
Over the years, many Catholic clergy convicted of child molestation have been allowed to remain in the priesthood. Some abusers who left the priesthood did so voluntarily.
The late Francis was pope when Peyton first applied for excommunication. The pope is Louis XIV, who was elected to succeed Francis in May 2025 and is the first US-born pope in history. It is Leo.
Another abusive priest, Gilbert Gauthe of the Lafayette diocese, pleaded guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he met through his ministry, bringing the decades-long crisis of abuse by Catholic clergy around the world to the collective conscience of the United States.
More recently, the Lafayette diocese unsuccessfully asked the Louisiana supreme court to strike down a state law passed in 2021 that eliminated deadlines for lawsuits seeking compensation for child abuse that occurred long ago.
