2023-07-22 02:00:13
“The current situation in the parish calls for bringing forward the withdrawal of Father K.* scheduled for June 30. This withdrawal is immediate. “Religious silence… And nods of disapproving heads under the steeple of the church of Breteuil, this Sunday. Towards the end of the mass he celebrates at short notice, Father Florent Mogengo, collaborator of the bishop of Oise, has just announced to the few hundred faithful present that their priest, RK, will not be returning.
The abbot, questioned by a believer who filed a complaint for rape on May 14, left the parish Anne-Marie-Javouhey, where he had officiated for almost five years, by the back door. This mass that he was to celebrate this Sunday despite the accusations is an opportunity for Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonin, through the voice of Father Mogengo, to return to a speech given the previous Sunday, which had aroused the ire of the defenders of Sophie *, the alleged victim.
“Inappropriate attitudes”
“In several circumstances, the abbot had an inappropriate posture and attitudes incompatible with the clerical state and the curial charge entrusted to him”, specifies the speech, which last week only mentioned a “complicated personal situation”.
Despite this explicit questioning of the man of the Church, many parishioners left the building dejected at the end of mass this Sunday. “We are all very sad, slips in concert a small group of four faithful. We didn’t know he wouldn’t be here today. »
angry parishioners
On the forecourt of the church, the case is on everyone’s lips. “Apparently he hasn’t eaten for eight days”, laments a Breteuilloise. “This climate disgusts me,” grumbles another parishioner. Some ignite right away, go hop we break someone without scruple, without thinking. People are mean. »
After’ Matassoli case last winter, the accusations hanging over Father K. moved the whole parish. So some, while deploring his departure, hope for a brighter future for their 34 chapels. “It will set everything straight. We will reflect, analyze, talk about it. Finally, hopefully, a parishioner whispers. But let’s not forget that someone is sacrificed in the story. »
At his side, Jacques Cotel, president of the community of communes of Oise Picardy and former mayor of Breteuil, believes that the canonical investigation returned its conclusions too quickly. “She should have been more careful, to find out about the people who denounce. Who only hears a bell only hears a sound”, the former city councilor annoys. “There are people who can be influenced,” mutters another, rolling her eyes.
The bishop calls “to the reserve”
The press release read this Sunday specifies that Father K. “will be welcomed in Beauvais” without saying more about the functions that the man of the Church will still be able, or not, to exercise. For the time being, he is replaced in his parish by Father Florent Mogengo and Father Pierre-Emmanuel Dessaint, who will become administrator of the parish for one year from September 1st.
“In this painful affair for the entire Christian community and beyond, our bishop Monsignor Benoit-Gonin calls on each and everyone to reserve and to prayer”, specifies the press release. The bishop asks to let justice do its job from now on. And while some are considering, “why not”, a kitty for the vanished abbot, the prayer pronounced a few minutes earlier by Father Mogengo resounds. “Give peace to this parish Anne-Marie-Javouhey”, implored the priest a little earlier.
Details
The case was dismissed by the public prosecutor of Beauvais on February 11, 2022. The prosecution considered, after examining this procedure, that it did not justify criminal prosecution on the grounds that “the facts or the circumstances of the facts of the procedure could not be clearly established by the investigation. The evidence is not sufficient for the offense to be established, and for criminal proceedings to be instituted”.
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