In 2016, I wrote a letter to Bishop Deshotel, reporting that I had been handled rudely by Monsignor Richard Mouton within the confession sales space. After asking a number of stunning sexual questions, Monsignor Mouton refused to admit me as a result of I used to be divorced.
I discovered later that Monsignor Mouton was one of many clergymen within the Lafayette Diocese who figured within the sexual abuse scandal involving Father Gilbert Gauthe, who was ultimately convicted of sexually abusing youngsters. In 1984, the Lafayette Diocese settled claims by 9 little one victims for greater than $4 million.
Father Gauthe’s hellish conduct, which included anal intercourse and oral intercourse with youngsters, first turned public in 1983. Nevertheless, it got here to gentle in the middle of litigation that Monsignor Mouton had acquired studies from dad and mom in 1976 that Father Gauthe had kissed two boys.
Monsignor Mouton was the pastor of the Catholic church in Abbeville then, and the preditory Father Gauthe was the assistant pastor. In accordance with reporter Jason Berry, who wrote a guide concerning the Gauthe tragedy, Monsignor Mouton responded to information of Gauthe’s misbehavior by “ordering [Gauthe] to maneuver to an upstairs bed room within the rectory.”
Seven years later, Gauthe’s sexual predation turned public information, and the dad and mom of a few of the victims contacted a lawyer.
Monsignor Mouton, apparently hoping to quiet issues down, invited Roy Robichaux, father of three of Gauthe’s victims, to return to the rectory for a bit of chat. Robichaux advised Monsignor Mouton that he was notifying different dad and mom whose youngsters may also have been victimized by Gauthe.
In accordance with reporter Berry’s account, Monsignor didn’t approve. “Ought to anybody get damage, Mouton admonished, the guilt would relaxation on Roy [Robichaux] for making it public.”
Monsignor Mouton additionally stated one thing that profoundly shocked Mr. Robichaux: “Assume how Gauthe’s mom would really feel.”
Robichaux responded as any good Cajun father would underneath the circumstances. “How within the fuck do you suppose the moms of those children really feel?”
However Mouton continued to downplay what occurred to Robichaux’s three youngsters. “The boys had been younger, Mouton stated gently. They’d bounce again and recover from this stuff.”
