- The diocese of Lyon announced two weeks ago that some of the victims of former priest Bernard Preynat would be compensated.
- The former parish priest will have to compensate the victims and if he cannot pay, the Church will take over, via an appeal for donations from the public and the faithful.
- The victims still involved in the civil proceedings against Bernard Preynat will not be compensated by the Church if the justice of men grants them, at the end of the legal procedure, damages.
Compensation which is likely to be delayed and cannot be combined with any damages fixed by the courts. Victims of former priest Bernard Preynat, sentenced in March for sexual assaults on minors, should be compensated after an exceptional decision in May by the ecclesiastical justice of Lyon, but the measure is criticized because it is discarded on the ex-priest and will call for donations in the event of the latter's insolvency.
The opening to this compensation, a “first” in the Church of France according to concordant sources, was announced on May 29 by the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Lyon, Mgr Michel Dubost. The latter, in his press release, had then referred in this sense to a "sentence" (judgment) of the Lyons interdiocesan court, which recognizes the status of "victim" to 21 former scouts sexually assaulted by Bernard Preynat between 1971 and 1991. The latter or their relatives had previously expressed themselves to the archdiocese for “a request for compensation” for the damage suffered.
Victims in civil suit against Preynat will have to wait
"It is Bernard Preynat who will have to pay," said Bishop Dubost, who in his communication had not indicated it. Fourteen victims, for whom the facts are prescribed for the majority, have received "the assurance of financial compensation", according to the prelate while the other seven, "stakeholders in the civil lawsuit against Bernard Preynat", will still have wait. Because the former priest, aged 75, appealed against his conviction, last March 16 in Lyon, to five years in prison for sexual assault on minors.
"Our court will rule on the request once the decision of the state judicial body has become final," said the ecclesiastical court in its judgment sent to the victims who must be compensated. The sums granted by the jurisdiction of the Church were not communicated but according to several former scouts of Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, they would vary between "10,000 and 12,000 euros on average".
A call for donations to compensate the victims
What if the former parish priest does not have the financial resources to compensate the victims? "We will take responsibility for what Bernard Preynat cannot pay," says the diocesan administrator, referring in this sense to the relay of an exceptional "compensation fund" from the archdiocese, which will be created through an association " in the next few days. " The constitution of this fund, which will be the subject of a "call for donations" to the faithful and the public, should take "a few months", adds the religious dignitary assuring "that all the victims will be compensated".
"The Church is ready to take the place of the State if the latter does nothing" in terms of compensation, further explains Bishop Dubost but "it is not cumulative", he nuances. Clearly, if the seven victims of the Preynat trial receive damages on appeal, as at first instance, they will not be beneficiaries of the diocesan envelope.
"A masquerade", according to several victims
The Lyonnaise initiative comes as the Catholic episcopate voted in the fall on the principle of a financial gesture for the victims of sexual assault, an announcement not applied today, the bishops having asked for an "appropriation time" to clarify their approach. But it is criticized by certain victims of Bernard Preynat who see in it "only a masquerade".
“The Church cannot act of repentance and escape its responsibilities when it comes to compensating victims by discarding Bernard Preynat and playing the watch! Reacts Pierre-Emmanuel Germain-Thill, civil party to the Preynat trial. “For us, it will never stop. There are still for years! ", He adds speculating on the possible appeal of the" sentence "of the ecclesiastical tribunal that the ex-priest could make by the end of June, but also on the remedies still possible after his next trial on appeal .
Same echo from François Devaux, the president of the association La Parole libéré, for whom the institution "plays on good values that it does not apply", and is "casual" in s pressing both Preynat and the public to satisfy the victims' "request for reparation". “The Church is not poor. It may have liquidity problems but it is not poor, "continues François Devaux, stressing the" symbolic "significance that a direct participation of the diocese would have constituted to" turn the page ".
“You can't do it legally. When you give money to the Church, you give it within a very specific framework with a tax deduction that forces you to spend it for what you received it for, ”replied Bishop Dubost. The Preynat affair, which broke out in 2015, splashed the entire Catholic hierarchy through Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. Sentenced last year for his silences on the affair, the prelate was acquitted on appeal but resigned from his duties as archbishop of Lyon.
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