Vatican upholds excommunication of Louisiana deacon who left after son's abuse

The Vatican has upheld the excommunication of Scott Peyton, a deacon from Lafayette, Louisiana, who left the Catholic Church after a priest admitted to sexually abusing his son.

Peyton learned of the decision on Friday in a meeting with Bishop J Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette, The Guardian reported. The ruling came from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office responsible for Catholic clerical discipline. It was issued under Pope Leo XIV, who has led the Catholic Church since May 2025.

The dicastery rejected Peyton's appeal on the grounds that he had joined an Anglican congregation and published that fact on social media. Peyton was represented in the appeal by canon attorney Dawn Eden Goldstein, a specialist in church law. He has moved on from the Anglican church to a nondenominational congregation and intends to appeal the Vatican's verdict.

Peyton was ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of Lafayette in 2012. In 2018, priest Michael Guidry confessed to molesting Peyton's teenage son Oliver at St Peter's church in Morrow, Louisiana. Guidry pleaded guilty to abusing Oliver, who served as an altar server. A lawsuit followed the criminal conviction.

Guidry, who is 83, is suspended from public ministry. Deshotel acknowledged in his meeting with Peyton that Guidry remains in the Catholic priesthood.

After Guidry's admission, Peyton resigned from his post and left the Lafayette diocese. He and his family joined an Anglican church. Months after that departure, Deshotel issued the excommunication order. At the time the order was issued, Guidry had not been censured.

News of Peyton's excommunication drew international headlines in March 2024. Peyton appealed that year. He was still awaiting a decision in March 2026.