Sexual offenses in the Church: justice and dioceses engage in the North – Pas-de-Calais
By Anne-Sophie Hourdeaux
Published on
Bringing together 3 bishops, a procurator general and 10 procurators together is a rare event. This is what happened this Wednesday March 2, 2022 at the Douai Court of Appeal. The corn : signatory for the first time a protocol to pay facilitate reporting to justice of sexual offenses or crimes in the Church. But in fact, the dioceses were already involved in this dynamic.
A new protocol signed between the dioceses and the prosecutors is a first in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
The 10 prosecutors of the “jurisdiction”, that is to say of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais territory, were present: they are that of Arras, Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Béthune, Boulogne-sur- Sea, Cambrai, Douai, Dunkirk, Lille, Saint-Omer and Valenciennes.
Following the Sauvé report
What is it about ? Better report sexual assaults committed in the Church, by priests, lay people on mission, employees or volunteers, members of Catholic Education.
Attorney General Frédéric Fèvre explained: “The Sauvé report, on sexual abuse in the Church, was unveiled on October 5, 2021, with 45 recommendations. Among these, the signing of a protocol between justice and the ecclesiastical authorities”.
Already, the dioceses have implemented procedures
We are not starting from zero in these reports. “Relations between justice and the dioceses are good,” report the two parties. The bishops have already made reports to prosecutors themselves.
They have also implemented various tools and actions to fight against sexual assault in the Church.
- a partnership with the URSAVS of the CHR de Lille, the regional care unit for perpetrators of sexual violence, has been established with the diocese of Lille since 2016. A listening unit and training are set up in this context.
- A special message service has been set up in each of the dioceses, the victims can ask to be received by the bishops.
- a national body for compensation and recognition has recently been set up, the INIIR.
- information specified on the websites of the dioceses from Lille, Arras and cambrai.
How do bishops learn of alleged abuses?
The bishops have reports directly from the victims themselves or their entourage, “especially by mail, even anonymous letters” explains Bishop Ulrich.
It is also “during conversations” that matters are revealed to ecclesiastical authorities.
How is reporting done?
The protocol stipulates how the denunciation must be made: “The report is made in the form of a letter containing the factual elements as they have been denounced to the diocesan authority. This writing must specify, as far as possible, the following elements: identity and address of the suspect, identity and address of the defendant, identity and address of any witnesses, date and place of commission of the facts.
This letter is sent to the public prosecutor by post.
This transmission is doubled by sending an email.
Also, “in the event of a particular emergency, or of a situation requiring clarification or specific information, a telephone attaché can be made with the public prosecutor through his secretariat”.
Fuzzy areas?
If this protocol represents progress, certain points remain at the discretion of the bishops. In the case of an alleged perpetrator who is deceased, the protocol does not indicate the obligation to trace the denunciation, “since any investigation stops at death”, says Bishop Ulrich.
Mgr Leborgne, Bishop of Arras, however, points out: “I denounce all the situations that are reported to me, I have already done so when the presumed author was deceased, and I will do it again if it arises”.
Ditto in the case of a non-vulnerable adult: the denunciations normally concern only the cases of minors or adults provoked as “vulnerable”. However, explains Attorney General Frédéric Fèvre, “this also concerns cases where the risk of recidivism is great”. Bishop Ulrich meanwhile assures that he will make the denunciation even if the victim does not take legal action on his side.
And the secret of confession? Again, no obligation. The Attorney General says “accepting secrecy of confession”. But Bishop Ulrich wants to be reassuring: “In 22 years of episcopal mission, I have never had any kind of things in confession, and I have never heard anyone, any priest, tell me that he had received one day this kind of confession…”
On the other hand, for the limitation period, it is clearly stipulated that it is up to the courts to establish it and not to the bishops. So, even if the facts are old, they must be reported to the prosecutors.
“The diocesan authority does not have to make an assessment on the criminal qualification of the facts which are denounced to it, on the possible prescription of which they would be struck or on the territorial competence of the prosecutor’s office concerned to open an investigation” stipulates the protocol .
Especially since “the limitation period varies according to the offences. It applies to the majority of the victim,” said the Attorney General. It is therefore up to the courts to establish this famous limitation period.
Business in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais
The Attorney General recalled the figures for sexual abuse cases in the Church in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais:
-13 ongoing proceedings in 8 courts including: 7 judicial inquiries and 6 preliminary inquiries in the courts of Béthune, Douai and Dunkirk.
-Currently, 11 people indicted including 8 ecclesiastics (5 for sexual violence, 3 for violence)
-Between 1986 and 2019, 14 procedures adapted and closed.
Concerning one of the cases for the Dunkirk court, the case concerning the priest VS, in his forties, is still under investigation. That is to say, the investigation is still ongoing. He is indicted under judicial supervision. A woman took legal action, she filed a complaint. She denounces acts of aggravated viol when she was between 14 and 18 years old in Steenvorde. The priest recognizes the sexual relations but according to him, they were consensual. He faces 20 years in prison. He is suspended from his ministry as a priest.
What do the dioceses commit to?
What do the dioceses commit to? This is what the protocol stipulates: “The diocesan authority transmits to the public prosecutor’s office by means of a report the denunciations received, without it being necessary for the victim to lodge a prior or concomitant complaint, or, when it emanates from the in question, whether he reports to the police or the gendarmerie. (…) When the facts have been stated directly by the presumed victim, the diocesan authority, if it deems it appropriate, informs the victim of the report made to the public prosecutor’s office. On the other hand, the diocesan authority does not inform the accused, except in exceptional cases (…)”.
Justice also engages
But the protocol also engages justice: it must absolutely inform the dioceses of the progress of the investigations.
“In accordance with the provisions of article 11-2 of the code of criminal procedure, the public prosecutor’s office informs the diocese in writing when the report has given rise to a person whose professional or social activity is placed under its control. or his authority to: a condemnation, even if not final; referral to a trial court; an indictment. The person in question is informed by the public prosecutor’s office of the transmission of this information to the diocesan authority”.
In addition, “the public prosecutor’s office also informs the diocesan authority of any dismissal and the reasons for it”.
An annual report will be drawn up.
Contact URSAVS: 03 20 44 44 16. Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
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