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Archbishop Pascal Wintzer reacts to survey on sex abuse in the French Church, says women need to be part of a new way of ecclesial governance
By Clémence Houdaille | France
Catholics in France are angry and are demanding a change in Church governance that will give more authority to the laity.
That's just one of the findings of a new survey commissioned by La Croix following the October 5th publication of a scathing report on sexual abuse of minors the past 70 years in the Catholic Church in France.
That report, which was produced by an independent commission headed by a highly-regarded French civil servant named Jean-Marc Sauvé, has shaken people in the once staunchly Catholic country.
And the new survey, which offers further insight into their feelings of anger and sadness, is being taken seriously by the French bishops.
One of them is Archbishop Pascal Wintzer.
Head of the Archdiocese of Poitiers in southwestern France since 2011, he was one of the first French bishops to support the ordination of married men. But he also believes that positions of Church authority should be opened to women.
The soon-to-be 62-year-old archbishop shared his reaction to the recent survey on the sex abuse report with La Croix's Clémence Houdaille in this exclusive interview.
La Croix: The survey shows that the Sauvé Report has had a very strong impact on Catholics. Have you noticed this among the people you meet?
Archbishop Pascal Wintzer: Yes, both among the people who express themselves directly when I meet them, and among those who participated in meetings organized by the Niort and Poitiers dioceses, following the publication of the report.
The first feeling I notice is the anger of people who regularly practice their religion and are involved in the Church. They have known about the phenomenon of sexual assault for years, but it is the magnitude of the number of victims that provokes their anger.
This is not least because it shows the inability of the Church's leaders to assume their responsibilities.
And these facts appear to be in complete contradiction with the Gospel.
Do you understand this anger?
Yes, because some practicing Catholics feel that they themselves have been called into question by the facts revealed by the report, and they feel betrayed.
Some say that just calling themselves Christians already exposes them to negative remarks.
And now they are being stigmatized for the actions of others.
Nearly three quarters of those interviewed said that their faith was not affected by the Sauvé Report. How do you explain this?
They make a distinction between Christ, the Gospel and the Church institution, which is correct.
Moreover, one of the problems is that the Church wanted to protect itself by putting its functioning, its reputation before the service that it must render.
A large majority of those polled expressed a strong distrust of the institution, believing that the reaction of the Church hierarchy has not been up to the task. As a bishop, what self-criticism do you have on this subject?
It is true that our words can often seem a bit cold, whereas such facts first touch the heart.
No doubt we don't know how to express emotion, because of our temperament, because of our training, which is rather intellectual...
The fact of not expressing it can lead one to think that we have not understood anything, that we have remained indifferent.
This way of putting our emotions at a distance seems out of step with social life today.
It can give credence to the idea of a caste where we are all alike. We have to enter into certain laws of relationship.
I recognize that these are things that I don't know how to do, I can give the impression of experiencing a reaction that is a bit fabricated, artificial.
I express my emotion in other ways: by listening to people who are experiencing suffering, by thinking about changes in certain practices...
But we cannot refrain from entering into the mental patterns of our time, which demand more immediacy and spontaneity in reactions.
What do you intend to do to regain the trust of the faithful?
We will be judged on our actions.
We must make changes in the modes of governance, with more restrictive regulations so that decisions are no longer the sole responsibility of bishops or clerics.
Of course, councils exist, but they must also be decision-making places where everyone's voice is taken into account.
Among the proposals favored by respondents is that of entrusting responsibilities to women and better sharing of powers. How can you respond to this?
I will soon be calling two women to positions of responsibility in the diocese: an episcopal delegate for information, and a member of the episcopal council.
For the moment, I cannot canonically appoint a lay person, male or female, as vicar general or episcopal vicar.
But in January, a woman on my episcopal council will have a role similar to that of a vicar general.
We need quick actions, at least symbolic ones, showing that the laity also have their place in the liturgy, but we also need to undertake more profound reforms that may take some time.
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