Sexual abuse in the Church: faithful demand “concrete commitments” and call for demonstrations this weekend

The collective “Acting for our Church” which fights against the scourge of sexual abuse in the Church, called Thursday for a mobilization of the faithful in several cities this weekend, to ask for concrete measures after a new scandal. The motto of the movement is the hashtag #Sortonslespoubelles, in reference to a tweet from the former bishop of Paris Mgr Michel Aupetit, considered controversial by part of the Catholic community.

“The hashtag aims to bring together Catholics who are currently sharing their indignation on social networks, and want to raise their voices with the Conference of Bishops of France, as its plenary assembly approaches, from November 3 to 8, 2022.”

— Act for our Church (@AgirNotreEglise) October 27, 2022

“A year after the Ciase report was submitted (the Sauvé report, which in October 2021 revealed the extent of the phenomenon in the Church), we discovered via the Santier affair that beyond the commendable efforts of the CEF, no concrete lesson had been learned by the bishops, in particular in terms of transparency in the management of the clerics implicated or condemned”, wrote the collective on its website.

On October 15, the Catholic newspaper Famille Christian revealed that the former bishop of Créteil (Val-de-Marne), Mgr Michel Santier, had been sanctioned in secret a year ago by the Vatican for “spiritual abuse having led to voyeurism” committed in the 1990s.

Among their demands, the angry faithful demand that the reports sent to the bishops be transmitted “without delay” to the public prosecutor and that “any cleric convicted of sexual abuse” be “suspended from all ministry”.

Six meetings planned

According to “Acting for our Church”, six gatherings are planned for Saturday or Sunday in Paris, Autun, Lyon, Nanterre, Angers and Créteil. Elsewhere, “the faithful of the dioceses where formal events are not planned are invited to gather in front of the bishopric of their diocese on Sunday at 3 p.m.”, specifies the collective.

Another form of mobilization is recommended for the faithful who cannot move. “Take a photo in front of your bishopric or your cathedral (…) with a sign presenting a message to your bishop asking for concrete decisions and publish it on social networks with the hashtags #SortonsLesPoubelles and #APLourdes”, write the organizers of the movement. The second hashtag refers to a meeting of bishops which will take place from November 3 to 8 in Lourdes.