Father Robie Robichaux
Diocese of Lafayette
Ordained: 1976
Removed: 2018
Assigned as follows:
- St. Peter (New Iberia, LA)
- St. Therese of the Child Jesus (Abbeville, LA)
- St. Genevieve (Lafayette, LA)
- St. Peter (New Iberia, LA)
- St. Joseph (Iota, LA)
- St. Jules (Petit Mamou)
- Sacred Heart of Jesus (Broussard, LA)
- St. Edmond (Lafayette, LA)
- St. Patrick (Lafayette, LA)
- St. Mary Mother of the Church (Lafayette, LA)
- St. Leo the Great (Lafayette, LA)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Fr. Robie Robichaux:
Fr. Robie Robichaux was ordained a priest in 1976, who served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Lafayette. According to media reports, in April 2019, he was publicly named on the Diocese of Lafayette’s disclosure list of “priests against whom credible allegations have been made regarding sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.”
According to a lawsuit filed in March 2020, Fr. Robichaux is accused of sexually abusing a young woman when she was 16 until she was 18 between 1979 and 1981. At the time of the incident, the alleged victim was a parishioner at St. Peter Catholic Church in New Iberia where Fr. Robichaux was serving as priest. The woman reported the abuse to Bishop Harry Flynn in 1994.
Flynn told the woman that he spoke to Fr. Robichaux and that he would be sent for an evaluation. Flynn agreed to compensate the woman for past and future therapy under the condition that she sign a document stating that payment was not an admission of guilt. The woman refused. She reported the allegation against Fr. Robichaux a second time in 2004, and he was transferred.
Despite the allegation, Fr. Robichaux was promoted to monsignor and appointed Judicial Vicar of the Dioceses. In September of 2018, the accuser submitted the allegation against Fr. Robichaux to the Diocese of Lafayette for a third time, and the diocese removed him from the ministry.
In 2018, a second woman came forward with an allegation of sexual abuse in 1975 against Fr. Robichaux. The alleged abuse occurred when the woman was 16–17-year-old high school senior and Robichaux was a deacon in New Iberia. The investigation into the allegation is ongoing.
Fr. Robichaux’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Louisiana, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Lafayette may now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Louisiana and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com to discuss your options today.