Vatican upholds excommunication of Louisiana deacon

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith upheld the automatic excommunication of Scott Peyton, a permanent deacon from Lafayette, Louisiana, after he joined an Anglican community. The Vatican ruling, dated May 22, 2026, and signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez and Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, found that Peyton committed the canonical crime of schism by refusing submission to the Pope.

Peyton, who was ordained in 2012 and served at St. Peter of Morrow parish, announced his departure from the Catholic Church and the diaconate in December 2023. He was formally received into Trinity Anglican Church in January 2024. The Dicastery noted that while the circumstances surrounding his decision helped explain his motives, his move to the Anglican Church was a deliberate act of schism.

Peyton left the Church after his son, Oliver, revealed in 2018 that he had been sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Lafayette in 2015. The priest, Michael Guidry, pleaded guilty to abusing a minor in 2019 and was sentenced to prison. The diocese previously apologized to the family and removed Guidry from ministry for life.