Schoolgirls wearing Islamic headscarves are seen at St. Mauront Catholic School in Marseille, France, in a file photo. Photo: OSV News photo/Reuters The archbishop of Paris spoke out last week against the firing of a Catholic school administrator who was accused of violating French laws prohibiting religious expression in educational settings.
“We must be able to proclaim the Gospel in Catholic schools,” Archbishop Laurent Ulrich stated in an interview with Radio Notre Dame, OSV News reported.
“It must also be possible, in these schools,” he added, “to set up small groups of Christian pupils who really want to cultivate their Christian faith, for catechism classes, outside school hours but nevertheless at times when the children are still at school.”
According to the OSV News report, the prelate voiced his concerns in light of the recent controversial expulsion of a principal from a Catholic school in southern France who was accused of breaching the country’s constitutionally mandated secularism, otherwise referred to in French as “laïcité”.
Christian Espeso was accused of allowing confessions and Mass to take place during school hours, mandating catechism courses, inviting a local bishop to a conference at the school, and pulling materials he had deemed inappropriate from the school’s library.
Laïcité is a principle born out of the French Constitution that essentially enforces the separation of church and state by prohibiting religious expression or proselytising in the public sphere.
Private schools in France operate under the same regulations and follow the same curriculum as public schools and are state-funded. Catholic schools are allowed to maintain their religious identity and offer catechism classes, so long as they are not mandatory for students.
On September 11, local education authorities removed Christian Espeso, 61, from his position as director of Immaculate Conception School in Pau, a small French town located in southern France, following an inspection by local education authorities.
The directorate of Catholic education of the Diocese of Bayonne, which is about 70 miles west of Pau, released a statement on September 13 stating: “[The] decision, which we consider to be totally disproportionate in light of the facts for which he is accused, leaves many of us stunned”.
As reported by local French news outlets, parents and students of Mr Espeso submitted written testimonies defending the former school administrator to educational authorities. Their accounts, which included statements from teachers, parents, and elected officials, Mr Espeso told La Vie, refuted the accusations against him “point by point”.