Not “Dumb Dogs”: Bishop Aillet of Bayonne On Fiducia Supplicans

Bishop Aillet of Bayonne finds clear words about the Roman declaration Fiducia supplicans

From a Catholic Lady

On December 27, Marc Aillet, bishop of the diocese of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, released a statement on Fiducia supplicans, the Vatican declaration on the blessing of same-sex couples, calling on priests in his diocese to “prudence, the virtue of discernment.”  He encourages them to have a pastoral dialogue when dealing with so-called “homosexual couples”, but to reject couple blessings and, in conjunction with individual blessings, to call people to conversion and to “tell them clearly the truth that the Church teaches regarding their situation”.  He misses this clarity in Fiducia supplicans.

Bishop Aillet says what needs to be said.  The subtitle of his book Le temps des saints (The Time of the Saints), published in October, says it all: Let us not be dumb dogs.  In a time of faith confusion, he wants to strengthen believers by writing about the prophetic mission of the missionary Holy Church, the sacramental priesthood and the tasks and formation of the laity.  Neither excessive structural reforms nor adaptation to world developments are effective for the Church, but true priests in Christ and lay people educated through liturgy and catechesis are needed for a spiritual renewal of the Church, a “time of the saints” for the revitalization of Catholicism in Jesus  Christ.  (French book review here.)

His analysis of Fiducia supplicans is also based on one truth and grew out of “a time for reflection”.  In fact, his extensive writing testifies to a clear theological reflection on the meaning of blessings in the Church and gradually questions Cardinal Fernández's theological and semantic confusion, which “needs clarification”.

Associated with the French Community of St. Martin, the bishop is one of France's tradition-friendly shepherds.  Ordained a priest in Italy in 1982, he came to the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon from 1986 to 1992 and again in 1998, where Bishop Dominique Rey (sic!) appointed him vicar general in 2002.  Since October 2008 he has been Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron.  In 2021, he reacted prudently to the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes, assured the faithful and priests associated with the tradition of his appreciation and confirmed the status quo for the celebration of the old Mass in his diocese.

He acknowledged that “the priests in the diocese of Bayonne who celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 Missal are in full compliance with the Second Vatican Council, the legitimacy of the 1970 Missal, the expression par excellence of the lex orandi of the Latin Church,  recognize and cultivate a strong sense of ecclesial community […]” and particularly emphasized the young average age of the traditional believers, whose families “are very anxious to pass on the faith to their children”.

Only last autumn, at his invitation, the Canons of Lagrasse (Canons Regular of Our Lady of Lagrasse) established a new priory in the city of Pau.  The bishop explained that the canons living according to the rule of St. Augustine celebrate in the traditional Rite, but this does not conflict with Traditionis custodes, since the Church assigned to them within a newly established diocesan house is not a parish church and Masses are also held there in the Novus Ordo could be celebrated by other groups.

In the context of the publication of his current book, in which he also advocates liturgical peace, he recently expressed to the monthly magazine La Nef his “discomfort” caused by Traditionis custodes and emphasized that in his diocese “the liturgical difference between the two forms  “lived peacefully”, the priests and believers associated with the Vetus ordo are integrated into diocesan life and, above all, many young people find the sacrality they are looking for in this liturgy in a completely non-ideological way.

For many years, Bishop Aillet has repeatedly been a target by left-wing Catholics in his diocese who accuse the conservative bishop of being backwards and for whom priests in cassocks and Gregorian chant are anathema.  Added to this are Bishop Aillet's clear condemnation of abortion and euthanasia and the gay pride in Biarritz.

With his current statement, Bishop Aillet wants to act as a shepherd to care for his priests and faithful in the face of “stubborn ambiguities” in a “secularized society in which we are experiencing an unprecedented anthropological crisis”.  He gives clear instructions on how they should bear witness to the love and mercy of God in dealing with Fiducia supplicans in a pastoral attitude towards sinners, without abandoning the unchanging truth of the Church:

 - I invite the priests of the diocese to be welcoming to irregular couples or people who have a homosexual relationship: people should not feel judged but welcomed with a perceptive and listening attitude that promises them God's love.

 - Furthermore, I invite you to carry out a pastoral dialogue and to have the courage to tell them clearly the truth, for the good of people and with the appropriate sensitivity, without judging them and by involving themselves personally in the pastoral relationship,  that the Church teaches regarding their situation.

 - Finally, I invite you to give them a blessing when people ask for it, provided that it is individual for each person, calling them to conversion and inviting them to ask for the help of grace that the Lord  granted to all who ask him to bring their lives into harmony with the will of God.”

 Msgr. Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron

 Bayonne, December 27, 2023

 On the feast of St. John, Apostle

 Image: Alliance des Coeurs unis (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG