Vatican upholds excommunication of Louisiana deacon who joined Anglicans after son suffered clergy abuse

The Vatican has upheld the excommunication of a Louisiana Catholic deacon who joined an Anglican congregation after his teenage son was molested by a local Catholic priest. The Vatican’s decision was in response to an appeal filed by the deacon, who has since moved from the Anglican congregation to a nondenominational one. 

The Guardian reported that during an Oct. 16 meeting with Bishop Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette, Louisiana, Scott Peyton was informed of the decision made by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), which pointed to his joining an Anglican congregation — a decision Peyton had shared on social media — and the deacon’s subsequent refusal to submit to the Pope. 

Dawn Eden Goldstein, who represented Peyton pro bono in the appeal, shared the DDF’s documents with the Guardian. 

“This act of joining a separated faith community by its very nature is an act of refusal of submission to the Roman pontiff and a refusal of communion with the members of the church subject to him,” the DDF said, according to the outlet. 

The dicastery continued, “It is for this reason that … excommunication is incurred by the very carrying out of the act itself.”

According to the outlet, the DDF also said, “This [body] does not fail to note … that the circumstances surrounding this situation are indeed tragic.” 

However, in joining an Anglican congregation, the deacon “intentionally separated himself” from the Catholic Church, and the excommunication is proper, the DDF added. 

The Guardian reported that the DDF also said it hopes to someday reconcile with Peyton. 

Goldstein said in a statement Oct. 18 that “Although my client absolutely rejects the DDF’s decision … he notes that the DDF shows far more sensitivity to the harms that his family has suffered than Bishop Deshotel ever has.” 

Peyton intends to appeal the verdict, Goldstein said in a joint statement with Peyton. 

Peyton said he is disappointed but unsurprised by the DDF’s decision. 

According to the outlet, Peyton was ordained a deacon in the Lafayette diocese in 2012. In 2018, Father Michael Guidry, who is now 83 and in prison, confessed to molesting Peyton’s teenage son, an altar server, at St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, Louisiana, and further reported that Father Guidry was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty to abusing Peyton’s son and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Peyton, his wife, and their son won a $350,000 out-of-court settlement from the Lafayette diocese in 2021.

In December 2023, Peyton resigned from his role in active ministry as a deacon, according to the Guardian, and he, his wife and their children temporarily joined an Anglican congregation. 

“The magnitude of these revelations has deeply shaken my faith and trust in the institution to which I have dedicated a significant portion of my life,” Peyton wrote in his resignation letter to the bishop, according to Acadania News First. “This decision is not a rejection of my faith in God or my commitment to living a life guided by Christian principles. Instead, it reflects a conscientious objection to the way the Church has handled cases of sexual abuse, and a desire to distance myself from an institution that, currently, falls short of the values it professes.”

After Peyton shared on social media that he had formally joined the Anglican Communion, Bishop Deshotel issued a decree stating that he was excommunicated. Peyton filed a formal appeal of the excommunication in May 2024. 

According to The Guardian, Peyton confirmed in his Oct. 18 statement that he had since moved on from the Anglican congregation to a nondenominational one.