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As the current archbishop of Dijon gets set to retire, a group of Catholics in the French archdiocese write the papal nuncio to express their hopes of his successor
By Christophe Henning | France
A group of some 50 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Dijon have written to Pope Francis' ambassador to France to tell him what qualities they are looking for in their next archbishop.
Roland Minnerath, the archbishop who currently leads this local Church located in the country's historic Burgundy region, turns 75 on Saturday, the age when bishops are expected to submit their resignation to the pope.
"We expect our next bishop to be 'a fellow traveler and a brother', at a time when the synod launched by Pope Francis is opening in the Church," say the Catholics of Dijon in a letter to Archbishop Celestino Migliore.
As apostolic nuncio, the Italian prelate will play a key role in proposing candidates to succeed Archbishop Minnerath.
But the archbishop's impending retirement was not the only reason the Dijon Catholics wrote to the papal nuncio.
When the pope's Letter to the People of God was published in August 2018, these members from 16 different parishes and 25 Church movements began their work to "understand what it means to follow Christ today and to try to put it into practice".
It is both "the shock of the crisis that is shaking the Church" and the synodal process that "obliges us to speak out... to fight against clericalism and to repair, or better, to raise up the Church", explain the faithful in their letter.
They decided to take advantage of the impending appointment of a new bishop to express several ideas for a new way of governance in the archdiocese and for a closer examination of the recommendations made by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE).
"With him (the next archbishop), we would like to build an organization that is at the service of these communities, putting in place, wherever necessary, transparency and safeguards that prevent abuse and control over people and minds," specifies the letter to the nuncio.
The tone of the text is warm and addresses Archbishop Migliore as "dear brother".
"We will pay attention to the makeup of the councils on which he will rely, with regard to parity, transparency of decision-making processes, and equal access for all to information that concerns everyone," the Catholics of Dijon promise.
It is an expectation that commits the signatories who formulate, in a certain way, an "offer of service" by proposing to the future bishop to entrust assignments to professionals, notably human resources and financial management.
Archbishop Minnerath has led the Church in Dijon since 2004.
Ordained to the presbyterate in 1978 for the Archdiocese of Strasbourg, he worked for a decade in the Holy See's diplomatic service, spending time at nunciatures in Brazil and Bonn, as well as at the Secretariat of State in Rome.
He returned to his native diocese in 1988 to teach theology at the University of Strasbourg. He was also named a member of the International Theological Commission (ITC) and continued in both roles until his appointment to Dijon in 2004.
Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2015.
In recent months, Archbishop Minnerath has had to deal with demands from traditionalist Catholics regarding the reception of priests who wish to celebrate only the pre-Vatican II form of the Roman Rite.
The archbishop, who was concerned about the unity of the diocese, had in fact put an end to the presence of priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter because they refused to concelebrate the post-Vatican II Mass at least once a year, during the Chrism Mass.
In a certain way, that decision anticipated Traditionis custodes, the "motu proprio" the pope issued late July to strictly curtail celebration of the so-called Old Mass.
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