BishopAccountability.org
 
  Priests on Leave for Fathering Children

MonstersAndCritics.com
September 6, 2005

PARIS, France -- Two Roman Catholic priests in France have been discharged from parish duties after they admitted to fathering children.

Archbishop Hubert Herbreteau, head of the southern French archdiocese of Agen, has given the Rev. Bernard Chalmel, 58, and the Rev. Pierre Bignol, 60, a year to reflect following their acknowledgments of fathering children, Le Figaro newspaper reported.

Chalmel, head of the Saint-Joseph Paris of the French town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, is father of two children, ages 7 and 9. Bignol, head of the Port-Sainte-Marie church has a 16-year-old child.

Members of both churches offered mixed reactions to the news, the newspaper reported. Some expressed 'understanding,' but others surprise and a sense of deception.

The Agen diocese counts about 100 priests, about half of them very old.