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Harassment: Bishopric ends up suspending abbot – Switzerland

“In the state of the procedure, Mgr Charles Morerod, bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Friborg, took the decision to remove from his ministry Father PF, the time of the investigation and until the establishment of the facts. ”This new development was communicated on Tuesday by the diocese: Father Paul Frochaux is suspended from his post as parish priest of the cathedral of Friborg, a strategic post yet close to the bishop.

As a reminder, Father Frochaux was put in the media spotlight at the end of 2019: Father Nicodème Mekongo accused him of sexual harassment for acts that took place between 2008 and 2011 in Vevey. Two investigations are underway on this subject: one, conducted by a lay person independent of the Church and ordained by the diocese; the other, carried out by the Vaud cantonal police to which the Church transmitted the information in its possession.

Another accusation

However, it was not for this Mekongo vs Frochaux case that the suspension was pronounced, but for other events, as the press release specifies: “In the margins of this investigation, another accusation, which dates back almost twenty years , has come to our knowledge and needs to be clarified. Therefore, we have expanded the investigative mandate to include these new allegations as well. “

As a reminder, the facts in question had already been reported and date back to 1998: Father Frochaux had then taken a 17-year-old boy to his chalet in Torgon. This story ended with a confrontation with the bishopric in 2001. “I had a lot of affection for him and I considered him a bit like my son,” Father Frochaux explained in our pages recently. Nothing else has happened. We explained ourselves to the bishop and everything was settled. “A version confirmed by Mons. Rémy Berchier:” There had been no attack and no reprehensible event. “

What are the new elements in this case justifying a suspension? The bishopric made no comment, any more than Father Frochaux. What if the young person in question, grown up, considered with hindsight that this episode had actually harmed him? We tried to reach him in France, where he currently resides, without success. “He would have said that he does not wish to respond to the press, but that he will speak to the person who is carrying out the investigation, if the latter wishes to hear it,” said a source familiar with the matter.

After having supported Father Frochaux even knowing this 1998 case beforehand, why did the bishopric suddenly decide to suspend it? “This is the question that all the canons of the cathedral ask themselves,” said a source familiar with the matter. The proper conduct of the investigation did not, however, require a suspension, as confirmed by the lawyer in charge of the secular investigation, Mr. Maurice Harari: “It does not change anything: whether it is suspended or not, I will hear Father Paul Frochaux. Currently, I have not received any complaints other than that of Father Nicodème Mekongo. However, you cannot question someone about facts of which you are not aware! If this gentleman contacts me about the Torgon case, things may be different. “

Tv programme

It is rumored that the reason for the sudden announcement by the diocese is to be found on the side of the Swiss German-language TV program “Rundschau”, which is broadcast weekly. She indeed announced on her program this Wednesday that she would speak of “sexual allegations [pesant] on the Catholic Church in Western Switzerland ”. “By suspending Father Frochaux the day before the broadcast of this program, the Church may want to avoid ending up in a situation where it could be accused of something,” analyzes a source familiar with the matter.

What about Father Nicodème Mekongo? Is it offended that the bishopric suspended Father Frochaux for the Torgon affair, but not for his denunciation? The clergyman did not respond to our multiple requests on Tuesday.

As a reminder, Father Nicodème Mekongo (who accuses Father Frochaux of having caused a “homoerotic climate” to prevail and of having made incursions into his room) is himself under the revocation procedure, suspected of having a hidden child. Father Frochaux, apart from acknowledging “a few gags” with a sexual connotation, firmly denies all of Father Nicodème Mekongo’s accusations.

Created: 04.02.2020, 22h57

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