What happened to you at a Diocese of Baton Rouge parish was not okay.

If you were an altar server, a CCD kid, or a student at the parish school anywhere in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Plaquemine, New Roads, Denham Springs, Hammond, Pierre Part, the Felicianas, the city itself, sometime between 1963 and 1993 or thereabouts, and a priest did something you've carried by yourself ever since, this page is about you. Not about the diocese's list. It has one, from January 2019, of clergy it calls credibly accused, and it's worth knowing that twelve of the men named in the 29 lawsuits filed in the 19th Judicial District Court since June 2024 had never been on it. There's a date on all this too, June 14, 2027, and we'll explain it further down rather than shout it here.

Free
Confidential
No obligation
You never pay a dollar

6 questions. Your answers are private and go to one person.

A priest of this diocese has his own page: Father Christopher Springer

This applies to you no matter what

It was fifty, sixty years ago, and so were some of the complaints already on file; they go back to 1963. Louisiana took the time limit off these claims in 2021, reopened the old ones, and in June 2024 the Supreme Court let that stand. What's left is a filing date, June 14, 2027, explained further down.
The priest is dead. Berube, Camenzuli, Hemond, Landry, all named in the new suits, all dead. The cases were never really against them. They're against the diocese, still there at 1800 South Acadian Thruway.
His name isn't on the diocese's list. Neither were twelve of the twenty clergy the suits filed since June 2024 have named. That list is a floor, not a ceiling. It started at 37 names and it's at 48 now.
You told the diocese, years ago, and nothing came of it. Its own list has a column for that: reports received in 1965, 1981, 1988, 1992 and 1994, and what it did about each one. A report that went nowhere is part of a case. Not a mark against it.
You live in Houston now, or Jackson, or Dallas. A lot of people left after 2005. The claim is a Louisiana claim wherever you live; it follows the parish, not your mailbox.
You're a sister, a husband, a grown son asking for someone who can't. Reach out anyway. People do, all the time, for a brother or a father who won't pick up the phone himself.

The Diocese of Baton Rouge lawsuits: what the public record says, and when

None of this is ours. It's the diocese's own list, the 19th Judicial District Court, the Louisiana Supreme Court and the reporters who covered them, and every line links to where it came from. We don't add to it. A complaint is an allegation. A name on the diocese's list is that list's finding, and the diocese itself says inclusion does not necessarily mean guilt of a crime or civil liability. None of the men named below was convicted of anything, and the diocese has not admitted liability in any pending case.

November 11, 2004

Credible, Bishop Robert Muench said of the allegations. The diocese was settling, amount not disclosed, with a man who said Bishop Joseph Sullivan abused him in 1975, when he was 17; Sullivan had been bishop of Baton Rouge from 1974 until his death in 1982, and Bishop Sullivan High School would be renamed. Muench acknowledged something else too: over fifteen years the diocese had removed six priests on credible allegations involving minors. Associated Press, via BishopAccountability.

January 31, 2019

Bishop Michael Duca released the diocese's list of clergy who are the subject of credible allegations of sexually abusing a minor or vulnerable adult: 37 names, back to the diocese's founding in 1961, after an outside law firm read every clergy file. The diocese's FAQ says inclusion does not necessarily imply guilt of a crime or civil liability, and, on why accused men were reassigned, that in many cases the diocese was unaware and in a few, some limited ministry was permitted for men who admitted wrongdoing. It has grown since, to 45 with two names added in January 2020 and to 48 in the version dated June 13, 2025. KALB.

March 8, 2022

Weber. Father John Weber, dead since 2000, on the diocese's list for a single allegation (1956, Plattenville, reported in 1996) and nothing from the 1970s. A man who was about 13 at St. Charles Borromeo in Baton Rouge around 1975 and 1976 says Weber abused him there, and he filed in East Baton Rouge Parish district court, the first suit against the diocese under Louisiana's new revival law. WAFB.

June 11, 2024

Two complaints went into the 19th Judicial District Court against the Society of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, three days before the window was then due to shut. One, by a man proceeding as A.B., says Father Christopher Springer abused him at St. Gerard Majella in Baton Rouge in 1978. He was 12. In his lawyers' words, bishops either knew or should have known about Springer's pattern of abuse but took no steps to protect children. Springer, The Advocate reported, had at least 30 alleged victims; he was removed from ministry in 1985, laicized in 1990, and whether he is alive is not clear. The other, by R.L., concerns Father Clyde Landry at St. Theresa in Gonzales and the St. George rectory, 1984 to 1993. The Advocate.

September 21, 2024

At least five suits filed June 10 through 13 were pending in East Baton Rouge Parish state court: four men and one woman, filed anonymously, who say they were 10 to 13 at the time. Rodrigue Hemond and Christopher Springer are among the priests named. Five earlier cases, filed that January, had been dismissed in June after settlements with undisclosed terms. WBRZ.

June 9, 2025

Church records unsealed in a Denham Springs man's suit, which says he was abused as an altar boy at Immaculate Conception in Denham Springs between 1984 and 1986, show complaints about Father Daniel Lemoine going back to 1979, the year he was ordained, and running into the early 2000s. Lemoine acknowledged some of the complaints himself, WBRZ reported from the documents, and in 1994 admitted to sex with two teenage boys. The diocese put him on leave that year. His faculties came off in 1999; laicization, 2021. WBRZ.

January 20, 2026

At least 29 lawsuits, WBRZ's Investigative Unit counted, filed in the 19th Judicial District Court since June 2024. They name 20 clergy. Eight of those are on the diocese's list: Berube (St. Theresa of Avila, Gonzales), Camenzuli (St. Joseph, Pierre Part), Hemond (Immaculate Conception, Scotlandville; St. Thomas More), Kearney (St. John the Evangelist, Prairieville), Landry (St. Theresa, Gonzales; St. George, Baton Rouge), Lemoine (Immaculate Conception, Denham Springs), Ortego (Holy Rosary, St. Amant) and Springer (St. Pius X and St. Gerard Majella, Baton Rouge). The other twelve were never on the list. The conduct alleged runs from 1963 to 1993; some plaintiffs say they were five. More than a third of the new cases had already settled privately, no terms in the court file. The diocese did not comment. WBRZ Investigative Unit.

We checked this on September 12, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from January 20, 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who can be held responsible in a Diocese of Baton Rouge lawsuit

Not the priest, or not only him. Every complaint above names the Society of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. That's the corporation at 1800 South Acadian Thruway, and it's the body that ordained or accepted these men, put them in parishes with schools attached, moved them when it moved them, and kept the files. The theory isn't complicated. Put an adult in charge of children and you have to watch him. When a report comes in, you act on it. The complaints allege the diocese didn't, and its own list does some of the talking: a report on Berube in 1965; on Springer in February 1981, four years before his faculties came off; on Landry in June 1988; on Lemoine in 1994, after complaints the unsealed records trace to 1979. Where the record shows what the diocese knew and when, the case is against the institution. It is the one with the money.

And it has the money, as far as anyone can see. The Diocese of Baton Rouge has not filed for bankruptcy; we checked the Middle District of Louisiana docket and the news the week this was written. That matters in Louisiana. New Orleans filed Chapter 11 in May 2020, and from that day every claim against the Archdiocese was a race to a bar date, March 1, 2021, with a plan that wasn't confirmed until December 2025. Alexandria followed it into Chapter 11 in October 2025. Baton Rouge hasn't, and it's doing the opposite so far, answering the complaints and settling them one at a time, more than a third of the new ones by January 2026. That could change. If the diocese files, this page changes the same day, and so does your deadline.

Your deadline: the Louisiana statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse claims

In 2010 a federal judge in Baton Rouge threw out two men's claims about Father Springer from before 1983 because, until 1983, Louisiana's one-year clock ran against children too. Louisiana rewrote that in 2021, and the rewrite favors you. Act 322 of 2021 redid La. R.S. 9:2800.9: it took the time limit, what Louisiana calls prescription, off civil claims for sexual abuse of a minor, and it revived the old ones, claims like those two. It nearly didn't survive, either. The Louisiana Supreme Court threw the revival out on March 22, 2024, and for a few months it was dead; then the court agreed to hear the case a second time, changed its mind, and upheld the law. That second ruling is Bienvenu v. Defendant 1, June 12, 2024, and every suit on this page exists because of it.

Which brings us to you. Under the old law the clock on a childhood claim ran out fast, and for most people reading this it ran out decades ago; under the 2021 law that no longer matters, so if you were under 18 at the time the door is open right now. The catch is the revival window, and the window has an end: June 14, 2027. The Legislature set that day in 2024, Senate Bill 246, now Act 481, when it extended the window, and it's for anyone whose claim for sexual abuse as a minor was barred by prescription. Not "no time limit." A date.

Different clock if you were eighteen or older at the time: Civil Code article 3496.2 gives three years, and the revival window does not reach those claims. That doesn't mean nothing can be done; it means a lawyer has to look at your actual dates before anyone says anything, which is what the age question above is for. We don't decide it. A lawyer does, for free, after the call.

Your situation still qualifies even if

You never said it out loud. Not to your wife, your husband, a priest. Nobody.
You don't have a word for what it was. Half of you is convinced it wouldn't count.
You stayed in the Church. Went back to that parish. Sent your own kids to the school.
It was a brother, a lay teacher, a coach at the parish school, not a priest.
The man's name is on nobody's list, which puts him with 12 of the 20 named in the suits filed since June 2024.
Your parish was in Slidell or New Orleans. Or your years were before 1961, back when this whole territory still belonged to the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Say so first, because those years run against the Archdiocese, whose bankruptcy claims deadline passed in March 2021.

Parishes and schools covered

If you grew up Catholic in Ascension or Assumption, in East or West Baton Rouge, Iberville or Pointe Coupee, in East or West Feliciana, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Livingston or St. James, at any parish, grammar school, high school or chaplaincy the Diocese of Baton Rouge runs or ran there from 1961 on, that's what this page covers. Maybe yours is one of the eleven already named in a filing, St. Theresa of Avila in Gonzales or St. Joseph in Pierre Part, one of the two Immaculate Conceptions, Scotlandville or Denham Springs, St. John the Evangelist in Prairieville, Holy Rosary in St. Amant, or in Baton Rouge St. Thomas More, St. George, St. Pius X, St. Gerard Majella or St. Charles Borromeo, and maybe it isn't, which only means nobody has filed yet. It does not mean nothing happened. Answer the questions and say where.

Questions people are asking

Can I sue the Diocese of Baton Rouge?

People are. At least 29 complaints since June 2024 in the 19th Judicial District Court, by WBRZ's count in January 2026, and the diocese is answering them and settling some. Whether you can comes down mostly to your age at the time. Under 18, and a revived claim can be filed through June 14, 2027; an adult, and a lawyer has to sit with your dates before anyone answers.

What if his name isn't on the diocese's credibly accused list?

You'd have company. Of the twenty clergy named in the suits filed since June 2024, twelve were never on it either. What the list is, is what the diocese found in its own files: 37 names in January 2019, 48 now. A missing name means the diocese hadn't listed him. Nothing more.

How much does a sexual abuse lawyer cost?

Nothing, here. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing, not fees and not costs. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.

How much is a Diocese of Baton Rouge settlement?

We won't put a number on this page, and be wary of anyone who does. More than a third of the new cases have settled privately, and not one figure is in the court file. The 2004 settlement over Bishop Sullivan wasn't disclosed either. It depends on what happened and what the diocese knew, and a lawyer will tell you plainly after they've looked at your facts.

Is there a statute of limitations for child sexual abuse in Louisiana?

Not the one your parents' lawyer would have known. Since Act 322 of 2021, La. R.S. 9:2800.9 has no time limit for claims by someone who was a minor, and expired claims were revived; the Supreme Court upheld that on June 12, 2024. The catch is the revival window: an older claim must be filed by June 14, 2027. Adults at the time have a three-year clock under Civil Code article 3496.2, and that one needs a lawyer's eyes.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed Louisiana attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.