Chloé, priest's daughter

by Adeline Fleury (English translation by Rebel Girl)
Le Journal du Dimanche
May 11, 2013

Over 40 years ago, Father Barreau got married. Today, his daughter Chloé reflects about the taboo on married priests and the situation of the hidden children of the Church. There are more than 10,000 of them in France.

October 8, 1971. Le Club de la presse ("Press Club"), the flagship debate program of the late 1960s, begins. The atmosphere on the set is heavy. A man with piercing eyes and frank speech is being questioned by four journalists. The tone is one of incredible freedom, but the subject triggers thunder. It's the celibacy of priests. And who better to talk about it than Father Barreau, this charismatic priest, known for being the priest of the "blousons noirs" (youth street gangs) of Pigalle, then head of the catechumenate for the diocese of Paris. The one through whom the scandal came up after he had publicized in L'Express the same week his decision to get married. The priest doesn't fall apart in the face of attacks by journalist Michel de Saint-Pierre, who accuses him of "playing the pin-up boy" in the headlines, and boasting about his "mistake". Jean-Claude Barreau can't see where the problem is: "Just let the priests marry and let's get to the point!" The point? The crisis of a Church that even then kept itself at a distance from the real world. The priest, to whom Rome had denied reduction to lay status, thought the Church was going to blow priestly celibacy away in five years anyway.

"The marriage of priests isn't happening tomorrow"

In 2013, more than forty years later, the Vatican still doesn't allow priests to get married, and the hidden children of men of the Church are still marked with the seal of dishonor. Jean-Claude Barreau, 80, and his wife, Ségolène, 69, are as in love as the first day. Their daughter, Chloé  35, takes her camera, invites her parents to tell their story and questions a still taboo reality in the documentary La Faute à mon père, le scandale de l'abbé Barreau ("My Father's Sin: The Scandal of Father Barreau" -- Award for Best European Documentary, Circom 2013). "Despite the hope of renewal brought about by the arrival of Pope Francis and his willingness to re-evangelize from within, the marriage of priests isn't happening tomorrow," says Chloé Barreau. Recognition of the children of priests isn't on the agenda in Rome either. Even if a wind of hope blew in 2009 on the pain of these daughters and sons of men of faith who weren't able to resist love's call.

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, then prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, held several meetings on the explosive issue. Objective: To prevent the existence of DNA testing from raising a multitude of suits to establish paternity in court, with the damage that would cause to the finances and the image of the Church. A kind of social contract guaranteeing the civil rights of the mother and the child was then discussed: the child could inherit the personal property of his father, and the latter transmit his name to him. The issue never came out from behind the walls of the Vatican. While obviously no official figures exist on the number of children of priests, according to the European Federation of Married Catholic Priests, there are 10,000 to 12,000 married former priests in France, and in northern France alone, a score of "households."

"He regained his freedom as a final settlement"

These heirs of moral grief are upset about being the victims of one of the greatest hypocrisies of the Church. "My father had gone to see François Marty, Archbishop of Paris, to tell him his desire to marry. The Cardinal retorted that he was used to hearing this kind of thing, that my father could marry in secret, and that if he had children someday, the Church would deal with them ..." Father Barreau chose not to live a lie. "He regained his freedom as a final settlement," says Chloé, a proud daughter of a defrocked priest. The defrocked one is one whose successive decisions mark a faithfulness to himself, to what we are under the mask."

"Children usually learn one day in a roundabout way that their father was a priest; I've never hidden it from them," Jean-Claude Barreau states. "Most priests who left the ministry to marry feel socially downgraded, they no longer have the influence their status conferred upon them. My father didn't experience this as a repudiation," says Chloé. Jean-Claude Barreau was an editor, an adviser to François Mitterrand, President of INED (Institut national d'études démographiques - "National Institute for Demographic Studies"), immigration advisor to Charles Pasqua... The former priest lived in the light; Ségolène, his wife, had to learn to deal with the cracks. In the eyes of society, she was the temptress, the one who led the man of faith astray. "I had the feeling of being the pastor's whore...," she dares to say to the camera. Chloé doesn't reject her roots at all: "This story gave me life, the taste for romance and one certainty: a love that struggles is a block of granite, the whole world in coalition will always break its teeth on it."



Photos: Fr. Jean-Claude Barreau and his daughter Chloé, then and now.

Knowing Right from Wrong: Fr. Thomas Williams proves he does...in the end

Fr. Thomas Williams, a priest in the Legion of Christ, had a promising church career. A moral theologian, Fr. Williams taught Ethics and Catholic Social Doctrine at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome, and served as Vatican Analyst for NBC News, CBS News, and Sky News. Fr. Williams served as superior of the Legion's general directorate in Rome in the 1990s. He has also written numerous popular works including A Heart Like His: Meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spiritual Progress: Becoming the Christian You Want to Be, Greater Than You Think: A Theologian Answers the Atheists About God, The World as It Could Be: Catholic Social Thought for a New Generation, Can God Be Trusted?: Finding Faith in Troubled Times, Who Is My Neighbor: Personalism And The Foundations Of Human Rights, Building on Solid Ground: Authentic Values and How to Attain Them, and Knowing Right from Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience.

So the Catholic world was shocked in May of last year when the handsome mediagenic priest admitted that a few years earlier he had had an affair and fathered a child out of wedlock. Incredibly, along with Fr. Williams' confession, came a tacit admission from his superiors in the Legion of Christ that they knew of the affair and yet allowed Fr. Williams to continue to teach morality to their seminarians and speak publicly about ethics. In a Q and A posted on the Spanish version of the website of the Legion's lay movement, Regnum Christi, the order said that "the superiors advised Father Thomas to behave appropriately and to withdraw from public and they accompanied him in his reflection on his personal situation." However, they added that they should have taken faster and more stringent actions against the priest, and said that "the Director General and Council much regret not acting sooner with due firmness, take responsibility, and apologize for not doing everything possible to limit the scandal."

In a communique apologizing for his actions prior to taking a leave of absence for vocational discernment, Fr. Williams took responsibility for his failure to obey his superiors' advice to keep out of the public eye: "My superiors did on numerous occasions encourage me to keep a low profile, and I pushed to keep up a more active public apostolate. I foolishly thought that I had left this sin in my past, and that I could make up for some of the wrong I had done by doing the greatest good possible with the gifts God has given me. This was an error in judgment, and yet another thing I must ask your forgiveness for."

Now, a year later and after much reflection, Fr. Williams has decided to do the right thing. He has asked Pope Francis for dispensation from his vows and in a statement published by his LC colleague Fr. John Conner, Fr. Williams says that "I came to the serene conviction that what God expects of me now is to devote myself to caring for my child and his mother. By responsibly and lovingly accepting the consequences of my actions, I will continue to serve God and his Church. I know I should be with my son and try to be the kind of father he needs."

Ex-bishop's widow wants optional priestly celibacy

 She uses a wheelchair and carries the weight of her 87 years, but Clelia Luro feels powerful enough to make the Roman Catholic Church pay attention to her campaign to end priestly celibacy.

This woman, whose romance with a bishop and eventual marriage became a major scandal in the 1960s, is such a close friend with Pope Francis that he called her every Sunday when he was Argentina's leading cardinal.

Luro's convinced that he will eventually lead the global church to end mandatory priestly celibacy, a requirement she says "the world no longer understands"....

Full text from U-T San Diego...

From Africa...

KENYA: Kiambu married priest calls for an end to celibacy vow

A married priest in Kiambu has called upon Pope Francis to review the Catholic church vow of celibacy. Reformed Catholic Church Father Peter Kinyanjui said the vow is to blame for the scandals facing the church. Kinyanjui, who left the main Catholic church and married Emma Mugure three years ago, was speaking at an interview yesterday. "Many faithfuls feel Pope Francis is a safe pair of hands to redeem the church image. I believe that he will review the celibacy oath as a way to healing the catholic church from further destruction," he said. (The Star, 3/26/2013)...More...

UGANDA: Uganda's "Singing Priest" Suspended

Easily the most charismatic and best known Catholic priest in Uganda, you would think Fr. Anthony Musaala would be the last person the Church would want to suspend. Yet that is just what happened last month to the young clergyman...On March 12, 2013, Fr. Musaala, tired of the hypocrisy around sexual issues in the Catholic Church in his country, wrote an open letter to his clerical colleagues and superiors about the sexual abuse and celibacy violation issues in the Ugandan Church...In response to Fr. Musaala's letter, Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga suspended the popular cleric on March 19th. (Iglesia Descalza Blog, 4/3/2013)...More...

Ex-priests to Pope: Allow optional celibacy

By Tara Yap
Rappler.com
3/29/2013

LOILO CITY, Philippines — In time for Easter weekend, 3 Catholic Ilonggo priests with families renewed their call for optional celibacy. “Priesthood and marriage are not a contradiction. Marriage blends with priesthood,” said Fathers Hector Canto, Jose Elmer Cajilig, and Jesus Siva in a joint statement.

The 52-year-old Canto is married with 3 children, while 51-year-old Cajilig and 52-year-old Siva are both unmarried priests who have children. The 3 are hopeful that Pope Francis may be able to hear their plea to make celibacy optional in the Roman Catholic priesthood, which was hopeless during the papacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who affirmed the celibacy rule in several theological writings...

More...

British Catholic legislators ask pope to relax priestly celibacy rule

The Catholic Sun (Catholic News Service)
3/30/2013

Twenty-one Catholic members of Parliament have written to Pope Francis to ask him to relax the rule on priestly celibacy for Latin-rite priests. The members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords said in a March 25 letter to the pope that the rule should be changed to allow married men to be ordained priests where pastoral needs required it...

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Widow of former priest gets pension rights

Le Figaro
11/14/2012

The Strasbourg administrative court ruled that denying Helen B. the survivor's pension of her husband, who married her after his retirement, was contrary to the principle of equality.

In Strasbourg, the Administrative Court ruled in favor of the widow of a former priest giving her the right to a survivor's pension from the state. Following the death of her husband in 2010, Helen B. was denied her right to the pension of her husband, who married her after his retirement.

In Alsace and Moselle, priests, pastors and rabbis are paid by the state because of the Napoleonic Concordat which is still in force. As such, widowers or widows of pastors or rabbis are entitled to a survivor's pension and the payment of the grace quarter (full treatment of the deceased for three months after his death). But not the widows of priests.

Helen B. had sought her husband's pension. But the Budget Ministry had rejected her demand in April 2011. To cancel this decision, Ms. B. lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court of Strasbourg, arguing that "this article is contrary to the constitutional principle of equality of rights and duties irrespective of religion." The Administrative Court ruled in her favor, deeming that Helen. B is entitled to receive a pension under the principle of equality.

For its part, Archbishop of Strasbourg said it was not involved in any way in this case. From the point of view of canon law, the priest -- even when retired -- contravened the rules of the Church by marrying, observed the chancellor of the Archdiocese Bernard Xibaut. But as for the widow, "it seems she was in a difficult financial situation, so it's good for her and her children," he commented.

Brazilian archbishop believes time for optional celibacy has come

Speaking to the Folha da São Paulo, the new Archbishop of Teresina, Dom Jacinto Furtado de Brito Sobrinho, told reporters last week that, regardless of any opinions Pope Benedict XVI may have expressed on the importance of celibacy, the pontiff's words on this question are not infallible. He reiterated the Church teaching that the Pope is only considered infallible on matters of faith and morals and mandatory celibacy doesn't fit in those categories. The bishop added that "the fact that to be a priest you also have to be celibate is a discipline that the Church can change."

Dom Jacinto also commented that many bishops would like to see the celibacy requirement removed. He said that opinion is shifting towards optional celibacy and that the Holy Spirit will blow on the Church and the Pope will decide to give the Latin rite Church both options, as priests in the Eastern rite Church already have. He also pointed to Benedict XVI's willingness to admit married Anglican priests into the Catholic priesthood as a sign that change will come.

Seven suspended in Puebla

Víctor Sánchez Espinosa, the Archbishop of Puebla, Mexico, has placed seven priests in the Archdiocese on  a 2 year leave for vocational discernment for having violated their celibacy vows. The priests have been removed from public ministry during this time but can remain in dialogue with the archbishop as they make the choice between family and the priesthood.

Bishop in beach photo scandal resigns

You would think that after the Padre Alberto affair, priests would learn that it's risky to take your secret lover to the beach. Not (ex) Mons. Fernando Bargalló. Last week, Bargalló, who in 1997 was designated the first bishop of Merlo-Moreno in Argentina, became the latest casualty of photos published of himself cavorting on the beach at a luxury resort in Mexico, with a woman whom he first described as a childhood friend and then admitted was his lover.

Thus a promising 34-year career as a priest -- 18 of them as a bishop, first in Irina and Moron and then of Merlo-Moreno -- came to end as Bargalló submitted his resignation to the papal nuncio to Argentina. Bargalló was also president of Caritas for the Latin American and Carribbean region, a post to which he was elected in 2007. Some sources have suggested that, as one of the younger bishops, he might even have been in line to be the next Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The couple are evenly matched in age -- he is 57 and she, 55, income, and social status. The woman is María de las Victorias Martínez Bo, long divorced from her physician husband and mother of three children. She is a co-founder and owner of the stylish Jolie Bistro restaurant. Mons. Bargalló performed her wedding and baptized her three children. In fact the couple were friends during childhood and adolescence since their families both owned vacation homes in La Cumbre. They separated only when Bargalló decided to carry on the family tradition of having a priest in each generation and entered seminary.



 Although having a vow of poverty as a priest, Bargalló was also independently wealthy as a result of a substantial inheritance following the death of his mother. It is thought that he used these funds to subsidize his romance with Martínez Bo.



 According to the newspaper Crónica, the couple took great pains to conceal their romance and the Mexican getaway that resulted in the photos. They took separate flights to the United States and met there before travelling together, first to Mexico City and then to other vacation destinations. They also returned on separate flights.



Immediately after the compromising photos became public, Bargalló issued a terse communiqué in which he apologized for any harm the photos might have caused and reiterated his commitment to the priesthood: "I also want to clearly state that I am completely committed to God and to the Church in the mission that has been entrusted to me in this beloved Diocese of Merlo-Moreno and in the other responsibilities at the service of my brothers and sisters. I have deep feelings for my priesthood and dedication to Jesus the Lord and I want to persevere in it to the end."

In spite of these words, in the end, Bargalló became the second Argentine bishop after the late Jerónimo Podestá to step down because of a woman. Podestá and his wife became active and respected in the Latin American Federation of Married Catholic Priests. We can only hope that Bargalló and Martínez Bo will follow in their footsteps as they put this scandalous beginning behind them and live their love openly.