“Zero Tolerance” for Abuse Victims

By Gene Gomulka, Complicit Clergy, March 25, 2024

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan respect life director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. He can be reached at genegomulka@gmail.com.

Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel has come under fire amid media reports that he excommunicated Deacon Scott Peyton after his teenage son was sexually abused by Lafayette Father Michael Guidry.  Faithful Catholics are slamming Deshotel’s claim that Peyton “sever[ed] ties with the Catholic Church” by writing to him with concerns about clerical sex abuse cover-ups.  While Peyton, a sex abuse victims’ advocate, was ousted from the Church, there is no indication that Guidry, who pled guilty and is sentenced to seven years in prison for molesting Peyton’s son, has ever been excommunicated.  Sex abuse experts point out that Deshotel is one among a growing list of bishops who prove that the only sex abuse policy Church officials choose to enforce is “zero tolerance” for victims and whistleblowers.

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