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French court sentences Cardinal Ouellet, religious community to fines after expelling nun

April 5, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Cardinal Marc Ouellet takes part in the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Plenary Assembly on Women’s Cultures in Rome on Feb. 6, 2015. / Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

CNA Newsroom, Apr 5, 2024 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

A French court in Lorient, in Brittany, on Wednesday fined Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS; the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Pontcallec; and two apostolic visitors, Jean-Charles Nault and Maylis Desjobert, for the wrongful dismissal of Sabine Baudin de la Valette, whose religious name was Mother Marie Ferréol, according to LaCroix International.

Baudin de la Valette, 57, had reportedly lived in the monastery since 1987 without any significant incidents and then in 2011 denounced “serious abuses and facts” happening in the community. The situation then escalated, her lawyer said.

After 34 years of religious life, Baudin de la Valette was dismissed from her community in October 2020 after a visit from Ouellet. It was never made public what exactly the Vatican accused her of, and a complaint to Pope Francis against her dismissal was unsuccessful, according to The Tablet, which reported that the former sister said the dismissal decree “accused her of having an evil spirit but gave no concrete reasons.”

The French court has now said that the dismissal decree signed by Ouellet is not legally binding.

According to the court’s ruling, “in canon law, as in civil law, anyone who claims to be delegated must prove his delegation.” However, Ouellet did not present a specific mandate from the pope and was therefore not authorized to execute decrees of dismissal in a religious order. All decrees were signed by the cardinal or his secretary.

The court also said it was “surprised” that Ouellet “did not resign in his capacity as a close friend of one of the sisters of the Institute of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit.”

The court accused the religious community, among other things, of not correctly following the dismissal procedure. There was no prior warning and no reason for the dismissal from the community.

In addition, the court said, the community breached its duty of care when dismissing Baudin de la Valette, who was not offered any financial compensation that would have enabled her to “enjoy appropriate civil living conditions after 34 years of religious life and service to her community in the spirit of justice and charity as set out in canon law.”

With regard to the two apostolic visitors Nault and Desjobert, the court found that Nault had “impaired the exercise of the fundamental rights of the defense.” Every person, regardless of status, has “the right to know the exact nature of the acts they are accused of before being sentenced.”

“The visitors were not authorized to ignore the rules of canon law and general legal principles,” the court said.

After the verdict was announced, the attorneys for the Dominican Sisters and the apostolic visitors immediately announced they would appeal the decision. 

This article was originally published in CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Baltimore Archdiocese sues insurers over abuse claims coverage

April 4, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, vice-president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at the USCCB’s fall meeting Nov. 15, 2023. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 4, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is suing numerous insurers over their alleged failure to pay for abuse claims stretching back several decades.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September of last year ahead of a state law that ended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits for negligence concerning child sexual abuse. The law opened the archdiocese up to abuse allegations stretching back decades.

With the Chapter 11 filing, “the archdiocese will be reorganized, victim-survivors will be equitably compensated, and the Church will continue its mission and ministries,” Archbishop William Lori said at the time.

In a new court filing last week, meanwhile, the archdiocese alleged that nearly two dozen insurers “have failed to acknowledge, or will fail to acknowledge” their obligations to “pay for the defense of the archdiocese” and its parishes.

The insurers have also allegedly failed to acknowledge their obligation to “indemnify the archdiocese and/or parishes, including the funding of any settlements or judgments.”

The 22 named insurers have contracted with the archdiocese at various times since 1956, the filing said. The archdiocese itself “timely paid all premiums” related to the policies.

The alleged refusal of the insurers to pay out the insurance claims “constitutes a breach” of the policy agreements, the archdiocese said. 

The filing asks the court to declare that the insurers are “obligated to pay in full” the “expenditures made by the archdiocese and parishes” pursuant to the claims. 

The archdiocese said it was requesting a trial by jury on the matter if the court deemed it necessary.

Lori said last year that the bankruptcy filing was “the best path forward to compensate equitably all victim-survivors, given the archdiocese’s limited financial resources, which would have otherwise been exhausted on litigation.”

“Staggering legal fees and large settlements or jury awards for a few victim-survivors would have depleted our financial resources,” the prelate said at the time, ”leaving the vast majority of victim-survivors without compensation while ending ministries that families across Maryland rely on for material and spiritual support.”

The archdiocese joined more than two dozen other U.S. dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy in recent years.

Most recently, the Diocese of Sacramento filed for bankruptcy after more than 250 lawsuits alleging abuse by Church officials. 

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