The Little Sisters of the Mary Mother of the Redeemer are recklessly released from their vows and reduced to the lay state by the ecclesiastical authorities.

This unjust and violent decision gives rise to grave damage both moral and material to the Little Sisters of Mary who have given their lives in the service of the Church, in perfect fidelity to their religious vocation.

As a matter of justice legitimate actions will be undertaken against those responsible, whatever their involvement, to obtain redress and to reveal

the entire truth about this affair.

August 9, 2019
Letter from the Support Committee for the Little Sisters of Mary
addressed to the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, in response to its letter of 18 June 2019.

You will find at the end of this letter of August 9, 2019 the link to :
1) The letter of June 18, 2019, from the Dicastery, addressed to the members of the Support Committee
2) The Little Sisters' explanatory letter of 2 July 2019, addressed to the Support Committee in response to this correspondence from the Dicastery of 18 June 2019

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For the attention of

His Eminence Cardinal João Braz de Aviz

Monsignor Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo

Father Pier Luigi-Nava

Le Mans, 9th August 2019

Gentlemen, the High Responsibles of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life,

Reading your correspondence, notably the latest letter dated 18th June 2019, we better understand why the Little Sisters felt themselves misunderstood and despised by your disastrous manner of conducting this affair, coupled with a frantic desire to condemn them in advance, without allowing any defence on their behalf, nor any relevant or incontestable justification that there might be, to the point of denying any truthful evidence in their favour.

Such an attitude only arouses the many reactions of incomprehension, of anger and indignation on the part of thousands of people, many faithful Catholics, from who we are forever receiving testimonies. In effect, this grotesque situation is all the more striking in the current context where matters of morals and corruption taint the Church, coupled with this feeling of impunity at the highest level in the Roman hierarchy.

Equally, we deplore, that as regards the extreme gravity of the decisions that need to be taken, you have not deigned to travel to meet any of the Little Sisters in their community, in order to see and to verify, yourselves, that which they have not ceased saying from the start: all this affair is nothing but lies and calumny. No, instead of that, you have been content to blindly follow the reports of canonical visitors or of commissioners, most of whom knew nothing of the Little Sisters of Mary two or three years ago and who, without any doubt, have been carefully coached by the Bishop of Laval.

On our side, we have studied all the documents in the dossier, with the lawyers for the Little Sisters and we are stupefied to see that there is nothing in this dossier which could justify such violent sanctions! We now see, why you keep, by design, this suspicious silence as to the causes of your actions; silence that would lead one to suppose that grave crimes have been committed within the Congregation... What crimes!? You are incapable of giving precise facts, verified facts, to justify your accusations. Whilst the Little Sisters have nothing to hide, they have been exemplary in the way they have defended themselves, entirely transparent from the start, in furnishing every item of proof to support their innocence.

To reinforce these items of proof, we have brought to your knowledge the numerous poignant testimonies coming from all directions. Many of these testimonies, full of gratitude, have been written by people acquainted with the Little Sisters of Mary for many years and who, wounded with them, have hoped to express how much the presence of the Little Sisters has been a blessing in their lives or that of those near to them, notably the most fragile, as for example the elderly. These testimonies are testimonies from life, testimonies of affection which are not invented! They do not come from interrogations in some cold, expeditious and wounding inquest..

To-day, after this set-back, certainty exists for everyone, a certainty that nobody can contest:

Before being struck by this sombre affair, begun by Mgr Scherrer, in 2016, then taken up by your Dicastery, the Little Sisters of Mary lived their religious life in peace and serenity, always seeking to better comply with their religious rule at the service of the Church. They were perfectly integrated into the diocese of Laval, as into that of Toulouse, as much through their work as their integration into Parish life, in pastoral work, catechism, spiritual welcoming, without forgetting their presence in the Bishop's palace of Laval where they devoted themselves, regardless, to the service of Mgr Scherrer and his mother...

Since the start of this affair, the Little Sisters of Mary, have suffered greatly, they are wounded personally and collectively by the violence of the decisions taken against them, by the pressures and the moral harassment to which they were subjected, notably of their Superior General, Mother Marie de Saint-Michel, your target, whose honour has been battered by so many lies and your grave unfounded accusations about her. You have inflicted on the Little Sisters a truly psychological trauma with grave emotional repercussions.

Thus, you carry a heavy responsibility for provoking this situation of crisis in the Congregation, to have destabilised and in the end to have destroyed it, without any qualms for the human damage done and the dramatic consequences for each one of the Little Sisters.

Yes, we have truly felt for two years that you think that any of our queries must be malicious; that in your system of certainty there can be no room for doubts, nor questions... Shutting people out has been your sole response. Length of service, solemn vows for life, sacrifices performed, energy given without counting the cost had no visible << value in your eyes >>.

In this situation, verbal negotiation is impossible; one side is reduced to the state of an object : anything in their favour is soaked up, absorbed or rejected. It cannot be the subject of words and therefore any dialogue. The best proof is your choice of issuing these exit indults, preferring effectively the rejection of any proposal for a way leading to peace, whilst you know very well that it is precisely this constant absence of dialogue which has pushed our Little Sisters into this extreme situation.

You will certainly be aware of the reference to the press dossier prepared by the CEF under the direction of Sister Chantal-Marie Sorlin concerning sectarian deviations in Catholic communities. We have certainly understood that you would seem to place our poor former Little Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, in that category of methodical control freaks; you have used, as well as the Bishop of Laval, these methods and behaviours which you yourselves condemn in the name of the Gospel and which you reproach, without any foundation, in the governance of the Little Sisters. Never, inside their Congregation, never, have these Sisters behaved in a manner so brutal, careless of individual liberty and personal well-being.

Therefore, please, if you are thinking of replying to us again and again with this same double talk, that is to say, with the aim of hiding the truth, of evading questions put to you or burying everything in irrelevancies, please do not do so...!

Now, it will be the civil & criminal justice system that will speak and we hope, even though it is a crowning burden, it will be much closer to Divine Justice than your justice without appeal in condemning innocent Sisters.

Please accept, Gentlemen of High Responsibility in the Dicastery, our respectful salutations.

Marcel Mignot

President,

On behalf of the Committee of Support for the Little Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer.

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Enc: Letter of 2nd July 2019 drafted by the Little Sisters in response to your letter of 18th June 2019, which we sent to them, for information. We share every point of their indignation.

=> Link to the Little Sisters' explanatory letter of July 2, 2019, addressed to the Support Committee in response to this letter from the Dicastery of June 18, 2019

=> Link to the letter of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life of June 18, 2019

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Consult all the letters and press releasespublished by the Support Committee:

=> Letters and Communiqués link

=> Letters and Communiqués link (mobile version)

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=> Send a Message of Support to Little Sisters