More former priests may appear on abuse list

The Tri-City area learned last week that seven former priests who served in Morgan City or Amelia had been the targets of sexual misconduct allegations. More revelations may be ahead for priests who served on the west side of the Atchafalaya River.
Friday’s release of names, all of former priests who have faced criminal or civil action or are targets of charges deemed credible, came from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, which extends as far west as Morgan City. St. Mary Parish west of the Atchafalaya is part of the Diocese of Lafayette, which has yet to release a complete list of priests accused or convicted of sexual misconduct.
But the diocese is committed to releasing a list, according to the frequently asked questions posted on its website.
“After prayer and discussion, Bishop (Douglas) Deshotel, along with bishops of other dioceses in Louisiana, have decided that the positive reasons outweigh the negative ones, and so he has committed to releasing a list of priests and deacons removed from ministry because of sexual abuse of a minor.
“The compilation of the list will seek to be done in a way that is as complete and as accurate as possible. …”
A search of media accounts, court records, victim advocacy websites and other sources led to the names of four clergymen accused of sexual misconduct and who served in Lafayette Diocese assignments in St. Mary as far back as the 1950s and as recently as 1998. None of the publicly released allegations involve crimes believed to have been committed in St. Mary.
The former priests who served in St. Mary are:
—Michael Guidry, who served at St. Joseph Church in Patterson in the early to mid-1990s. In 2018, Guidry was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy years before. At the time of the allegation, Guidry was pastor of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Morrow. Media reports say he turned himself in in June and was the defendant in a lawsuit filed in August.
—John Bostwick, who served at the Church of the Assumption in Franklin in the mid-1990s.
Bostwick was ordained in the Baltimore Archdiocese and was assigned to the Lafayette Diocese in the early 1990s.
Bostwick was at St. Mary’s College in Maryland in 1996, near the end of his time in Louisiana, when he was accused of abusing a Pennsylvania boy in the early 1980s. Bostwick’s name has appeared on lists released by church officials in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore.
—Lane Fontenot, who served in the late 1970s at Sacred Heart in Baldwin. First accused of abuse in the 1970s, Fontenot was the target of a 1983 lawsuit in Louisiana. After a transfer to Spokane as a substance abuse counselor, he was accused of abusing three people there and convicted in 1986. He received a one-year jail sentence and was named in at least seven lawsuits in Washington.
—John Anthony Mary Engbers, who served at St. Joan of Arc in Glencoe in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Engers was accused of molesting at least seven girls in the mid-1950s and went to Holland after he was removed from his post and he was sued in 1985.
The Lafayette Diocese’s victim assistance coordinator is Joseph Pisano Jr. His number is 337-298-2987.
The Houma-Thibodaux Diocese directed people with concerns about misconduct to call the diocese’s Outreach Line at 985-873-0026.
In a Christmas speech to Vatican officials and employees, Pope Francis said the church had handled sexual abuse allegations badly and urged abusers to turn themselves in.
“Convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice,” the pope said.
The Lafayette Diocese has been the target of media pressure in the last year to release a list of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
Much of the early attention drawn by the priest sex abuse scandal focused on the Lafayette area. The Rev. Gilbert Gauthe was the target of misconduct allegations at St. Cecelia in Broussard in the 1970s before he was reassigned to small parishes in Vermilion Parish.
Gauthe’s case revealed a pattern that would be part of accusations elsewhere in the country and around the world: Priests accused of sex crimes would be reassigned, sometimes for treatment, and then sent to parishes without warning the new parishioners of earlier misconduct.
In Vermilion, Gauthe was convicted of 39 sex crime counts, including one involving a boy whose family refused to accept a settlement offered by the church and sued in state court.
Gauthe was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served only 10 before his release under the “good time” laws in effect at the time.
By the mid-1990s, Gauthe had pleaded no contest to new allegations that he fondled a 3-year-old in Texas. He was given probation.
Gauthe was jailed in Lafayette on an old rape charge before authorities learned he’d been granted immunity. Court decisions blocked attempts to have his early release from prison revoked.