The Archdiocese of New Orleans added 27 deceased priests to its list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse on Friday, nearly a year after resolving its bankruptcy case with survivors. The additions comprise 10 diocesan priests and 17 priests from other religious orders or dioceses, as NOLA.com reported. The allegations span several decades and communities in the region, including cases from the 1990s. The list includes Gilbert Gauthe, a Lafayette-area priest whose abuse allegations surfaced more than 30 years earlier.
Survivors named the priests in claims filed during the bankruptcy. Archbishop James Checchio said the update reflected a commitment to greater transparency after the settlement. After becoming archbishop, Checchio asked the church’s Internal Review Board to examine the claims and determine whether they met the archdiocese’s standard for inclusion, according to NOLA.com. The archdiocese’s Report on Clergy Abuse says a finding that an allegation is credible is not a determination of guilt. The list was first published in 2018, when Archbishop Gregory Aymond released a roster of 57 clergy, and had grown to 79 names before Friday’s latest release.
The list is only one part of the disclosure process
The bankruptcy settlement calls for accused clergy to be listed online with allegation dates and locations, while a broader public archive is being prepared at Louisiana State University. NOLA.com reported that the planned archive is intended to include claims involving more than 300 credibly accused priests, deacons and nuns, as well as supporting documents held by the church. That is a broader scope than the archdiocese’s list of names.
The archive was not yet publicly available, WDSU reported, although the archdiocese had begun providing documents to LSU for review and preparation. Its eventual contents and public release therefore remain distinct from Friday’s list update.
There is also a difference between the settlement figures reported publicly. NOLA.com reported that a federal judge approved a $230 million settlement plan. Separately, the outlet, citing WWL Louisiana, reported that insurer Travelers had agreed in principle to pay $75 million more toward survivors’ settlement. Those are separately described amounts; the reporting cited here does not establish that $300 million was the court-approved plan amount.
A documentary archive would go beyond a roster
The planned LSU archive would make records available beyond the names and allegation details required for the public listing, according to NOLA.com. A different example of a church publishing documentary records came in Los Angeles: the Archdiocese of Los Angeles says it publicly released files concerning clergy covered by its 2007 global settlement in 2013. That is a separate diocese’s history, not evidence of when or what New Orleans will publish.
