BATON ROUGE – More priests with ties to Baton Rouge were revealed in a report about Catholic clergy accused of abuse.

KATC TV in Lafayette reported the names and backgrounds of more than two-dozen priests that once worked with the diocese there. Among them, were at least four who had also spent time in Catholic church communities in the Baton Rouge area over the last 100 years.

The Diocese of Baton Rouge said it is planning to release a list of local priests tied to credible abuse claims by the end of January. Under the guidance of new area church leader Bishop Michael Duca, the diocese has vowed transparency.

In November, the Diocese of Baton Rouge said it hired a legal firm to fully investigate all personnel files that could shed more light on diocesan abuses in recent decades.

“We don't want to hurt anyone in this process,” Duca told WBRZ previously. “We are also making sure we aren't going to release information that will be abused or cause concern for any victims.”

The list in Lafayette released late Sunday was compiled by reviewing criminal charges, civil suit settlements, diocese statements and court case evidence, the TV station reported. It lists priests and church employees who have been accused of sexual abuse west of Baton Rouge.

Among the list are those with Baton Rouge ties: Jody Blanchard, Robert Marcel Limoges, Joseph Pellettieri and Pierre Celestin Cambiaire.

Blanchard, according to records published by KATC, was at Immaculate Conception in Baton Rouge and was named by the Jesuits as having a credible sexual abuse allegation in the 1980’s. It appears Blanchard was in Baton Rouge in the early 1990’s. It’s not clear where the allegations of abuse originate.

Limoges briefly spent time at St. Joan of Arc in Bayou Pigeon in 1984.

Pellettieri was in the Baton Rouge area from 1982 to 1989 and at Baton Rouge’s Redemptorist Education and Formation Foundation in 2002, KATC reported. He was on the New Orleans Diocese’s list of priests removed from ministry due to allegations of abuse.

Pellettieri died in 2018.

Cambiaire, whose abuse claims were reported in the early 1900’s, spent time at two area Catholic parishes but it’s unlikely his victims are still alive. Cambiaire died in 1955. He was removed when the allegation came forward, KATC reported.

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