Judge: Baton Rouge diocese, area Catholic priest to remain in suit involving confessional

Bayhi has testified previously in the case that he can neither disclose what happens in any confession nor confirm that a confession even took place. To do so, he said, would lead to automatic expulsion from the church.

Michael DeShazo, an attorney for the Baton Rouge Diocese and Bayhi, argued Monday to Caldwell that Mayeux alleged in her suit in 2009 that the statements she made to Bayhi were during the sacrament of reconciliation, but in a later deposition she described her communications with the priest as a cry for help that was not confidential.

"That simply does not compute," DeShazo told the judge. "Only the Catholic Church can say whether statements made in the confessional are confidential."

Abels said the young woman has not changed her position.

The diocese and Bayhi "don't want the jury to decide this issue," he told Caldwell.

"These were not confidential communications," Abels added. "Where the communications took place is not dispositive of the issue."

In its October ruling in the case, the state Supreme Court wrote that "any communication made to a priest privately in the sacrament of confession for the purpose of confession, repentance, and absolution is a confidential communication … and the priest is exempt from mandatory reporter status."

The high court also stated in an earlier 2014 ruling that a dispute remained "concerning whether the communications between the child and the priest were confessions per se and whether the priest obtained knowledge outside the confessional that would trigger his duty to report" sexual abuse allegations.

"The Supreme Court said it's a factual issue that goes to the jury," Caldwell said Monday.

DeShazo and Don Richard, who also represents the diocese and Bayhi, said they could not comment on the judge's ruling.

Mayeux claims she told Bayhi, her pastor at Our Lady of Assumption in Clinton, in 2008 of the alleged abuse. Mayeux's alleged abuser, George Charlet Jr., died in 2009 at the age of 65. His estate also is a defendant in the case.

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