THROWN OUT

Former Deacon Excommunicated After Son’s Sex Abuse by Another Priest

The deacon’s family became vocal supporters of childhood sex abuse survivors after their son came forward.

A former deacon was excommunicated from the Catholic Church after his son was sexually abused as a minor by a priest—a penalty the deacon says is meant to silence and punish him. Scott Peyton’s son first accused Father Michael Guidry of sexual abuse in 2018, which the priest confessed to before paying a settlement to the Peyton family. But they were shunned by the rest of the community, and after years of isolation, Peyton resigned as deacon in Dec. 2023 and his family joined an Anglican parish instead. Four months later, Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette told Peyton he’d been excommunicated. “I am aware that your family has suffered a trauma, but the answer does not lie in leaving the Most Holy Eucharist,” his letter read. Peyton slammed the bishop’s action as an attempt to silence him, because his family had become vocal supporters of a law supporting childhood sex abuse survivors who wanted to seek civil damages. Peyton said no clergy members in the diocese accused of sexual abuse had been excommunicated.