The Vatican's doctrine office rejected Louisiana deacon Scott Peyton's appeal against excommunication, The Guardian reported, leaving him barred from Catholic sacraments after his move to an Anglican congregation.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) treated Peyton's publicly disclosed move as a refusal to submit to the pope and remain in communion with the Catholic Church, according to documents his canon lawyer shared with The Guardian. The decision was dated May 22, 2026. Peyton received it at an Oct. 16, 2026, meeting with Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel, the outlet reported.
The ruling leaves in place an excommunication Deshotel declared in a March 13, 2024, decree. The decree says Peyton's Dec. 4, 2023, email conveyed his decision to leave ordained ministry and Catholic communion. It cites Canon 1364, which provides for excommunication in cases of apostasy, heresy or schism, and says Peyton's penalty took effect when he received the letter.
Canon 1331 bars an excommunicated person from receiving sacraments or exercising church ministries. Those restrictions fall on Peyton while the penalty remains in force.
Peyton left Catholic ministry after Michael Guidry, a priest, abused his son, Oliver Peyton. Guidry pleaded guilty to child molestation in 2019 and received a 10-year prison sentence with three years suspended, KATC reported. Peyton had been ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Lafayette in 2012.
The DDF acknowledged the family's circumstances and expressed hope for reconciliation, according to The Guardian's account of the decision. Its reported reasoning focused on Peyton's affiliation with the Anglican congregation; Deshotel's earlier decree cited Peyton's stated decision to leave Catholic communion.
Canon lawyer Dawn Eden Goldstein said Peyton intends to challenge the decision again, The Guardian reported. A statement from Goldstein and Peyton said he has since left the Anglican congregation for a nondenominational one.
