It’s been some three decades since plaintiff lawyers and journalists first dissected church leaders’ actions, but recently unearthed court documents cast fresh light on an old scandal. The hundreds of pages of internal church records and depositions show the abuse was likely more pervasive than the public knew at the time and the roots of the problem stretch back years before Gilbert Gauthe. (see http://archive.is/vdtgJ) )

The paperwork also provides something that church leadership to this day has refused to fully disclose: the identities of Lafayette-area priests accused of molesting children.