Archbishop Aymond Announces Broadened Response for Abuse Victims

As the Archdiocese of New Orleans continues its commitment to bring healing to victims of clergy sexual abuse, Archbishop Gregory Aymond has announced a significant broadening and restructuring of the local church’s response to abuse survivors.

“Our goal has always been to walk with victims towards healing,” said Archbishop Aymond. “We hope to provide a real path forward and an opportunity to rebuild trust in the church and rebuild relationships that may have been broken as a result of the pain of their abuse.”

In a bold step forward, Archbishop Aymond has announced Joey Pistorius, LPC, NCC, director of Catholic Counseling Service as the new Victims Assistance Coordinator. The department of victim’s assistance coordination will be housed separately from the archdiocesan administrative offices. Pistorius will collaborate with a team of counselors trained to respond to disclosures of trauma. The team of counselors will receive additional in-service training from Kevin Bourgeois, LCSW, of SNAP New Orleans, who will provide consultation to the Victims Assistance Coordinator. The victims assistance response team will work together to address the individual needs of each survivor. Pistorius will take over the Victims Assistance Coordinator position effective April 1, 2021.

In a separate response effort and as a result of ongoing conversations between Archbishop Aymond, archdiocesan leaders, and Bourgeois, Archbishop Aymond is renewing his call to meet directly with survivors of abuse and their families. All victims and survivors of abuse are invited and encouraged to meet with the archbishop for pastoral care once any pending legal claims are settled.

In his commitment to increasing trust between abuse survivors and the local church, Archbishop Aymond will invite an abuse survivor to be a member of the Independent Review Board. The Independent Review Board is a body of primarily lay professionals who review allegations of abuse to determine their credibility and make such recommendations to the archbishop. It is on the recommendation of victims’ advocates that Archbishop Aymond has decided to make this appointment. The identity of the members of the Independent Review Board is confidential.

“Meeting with victims and providing them what they need to move forward is a priority of my ministry as archbishop,” said Archbishop Aymond. “I am grateful to all of those who have helped in developing this plan and for the ongoing conversations with Kevin Bourgeois that have provided valuable insight as we try to aid survivors of clergy abuse.”

The archbishop added that while this plan's focus is specific to survivors of clergy abuse, counseling and pastoral care are available to all survivors of sexual abuse.