George Brignac New Orleans
Title: Monster in our midst: How pedophile New Orleans clergyman stayed near prey
It was 1953, and George Brignac was fresh out of high school when he joined the regional chapter of the Christian Brothers.
He spent seven years with the Catholic order, which founded four well-known local schools: St. Paul’s in Covington, De La Salle and Christian Brothers in New Orleans, and Archbishop Rummel in Metairie. But, by 1960, the order had expelled him.
Brignac told some people it was for “reasons of health.” Another time, his superior in the order said Brignac found “obedience difficult.”
Years later, his twin, a priest named Horace L. “H.L.” Brignac, revealed the truth in a statement to police: George Brignac had been “too friendly with boys.”
Archbishop Philip Hannan either didn’t know that or didn’t care when, in 1976, he accepted George Brignac into the clergy as a deacon. In the Catholic church, deacons rank below priests but are still considered members of the clergy.