(ZENIT News / Rome, 31.07.2024).- In early July of this year, at the request of the Superior of the Priestly Community of Saint Martin, Father Paul Préaux, the Dicastery for the Clergy appointed two Apostolic Assistants to accompany the Community in a process of reform. This reform was promoted as a result of some actions of its founder, Father Jean-François Guérin, framed in the ambit of abuses.
Bishop Matthieu Dupont of Laval, pointed out that the Pastoral Visit revealed many positive aspects of the Community and of its members, such as “the great service given to the Church in France through the parishes, shrines and works that the Community carries out.”
Saint Martin priests are present in 32 dioceses — with 40 Communities made up of at least three priests –, in France, Germany, Cuba and Rome. The Bishops, in whose dioceses this Community is present, “appreciate the capacity of the priests of Saint Martin to integrate in the presbyteries.”
The Priestly Community of Saint Martin was founded in 1976 and was installed in the Archdiocese of Genoa, under the protection of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, who explained that the Community was born “for the formation of French seminarians who desire the priesthood but do not accept the confusion of certain modern seminaries.” Today it has over 100 seminarians, a notable exception in the French vocational desert.
The dioceses that struggle against the vocational crisis see with admiration the 175 priests and deacons dedicated to pastoral life. The Holy See initiated the “investigation” of this institution of great vocational fecundity with an unusual intervention towards less traditional dissident groups.
Two years after the Pastoral Visit, the Dicastery for the Clergy appointed Monsignor Matthieu Dupont, Bishop of Laval, and Father François-Marie Humann, Abbot of Mondaye, as Apostolic Assistants. Both worked for for three years for a historical rereading of the foundation, addressing among other subjects, accusations of former members against Father Jean-François Guérin.
Father Paul Préaux requested this Visit from the Dicastery for the Clergy on three occasions over 12 years, to study the Community’s growth. He said that “our Founder had a strong temperament and wanted to be respected in his role as Founder, but was conscious of his human weaknesses to the point of apologizing to all of us.”
Monsignor Dupont said they talked with “persons that suffered Father Guérin’s actions. These actions, such as forced kisses, could be characterized as crimes of a sexual nature, which occurred in a wider abusive atmosphere that marked the moment of the foundation of the Community of Saint Martin, including the exercise of authority and spiritual accompaniment as, for instance, Abbot Guérin combined the functions of Superior, Spiritual Father and Confessor.” The Holy See considers it necessary to throw light on that period to cleanse the Community’s foundations,
The concern is to establish the truth, without taboos, as airing problems can give good fruits, but it can also open wounds and arrive at isolated conclusions.
Father Paul Préaux explained that “as work of the Church, it seems normal to me — and that’s why I requested a Visit –, that not only we self-evaluate ourselves but that we be able to benefit from the gaze of external and benevolent people. Much ground has been covered from the beginning of the Community up to today in the following of vocations.”
He stressed that “We do not like to say that the Community is a success. It doesn’t smell of the Gospel. What’s important for us is that the priests and deacons of the Community remain at the service of the faithful of the dioceses and do good.” Even so, the Holy See is investigating the exceptional case of a Community with many priests and conservatives.
To dedicate three years to the Visit also means “to work on the subject of vocational pastoral care and its acceptance, especially of the youngest, to ensure better discernment and a certain prudence for entrance to formation. An effort will also be made to support the process of renewal of initial and permanent education in the light of Roman and national norms,” clarified the two Apostolic Assistants. Do these words reveal Roman impatience given the excess of vocations in a Community with conservative tendencies that supplies 30 dioceses in France?
The priests of Saint Martin accept fully the teachings of Vatican Council II. They are very attentive to the solemnity of the liturgy, which they also celebrate in Latin according to the Roman Missal of 1969. They love Gregorian chant and prefer to wear the soutane at all times, which is not about a usus antiquior, but about traditional ecclesial sensibility.
Father Paul Préaux pointed out that the Founder “taught the meaning of the Church, especially at the liturgical level, highlighting fidelity to the reform of the 1969 Missal. He transmitted to us what he himself received from the Benedictine and Canonical Tradition, which was very dear to him. He knew and appreciated the spirituality of the French School.”
The members of the Community of Saint Martin hope to improve with the Visit of the Dicastery for the Clergy, which will fructify by respecting the original charism and updating the necessary aspects for the better service of the Church, because every valuable reform looks to its origins.
