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By: Reverend Warren Carlin, O.Carm.
It all started with the brouhaha in 1994 and 1995 caused by the Vatican’s removal of Jacques Gaillot, the bishop of Evreux, a town, a couple hundred kilometers west of Paris. The stirring made the front page of the National Catholic Reporter on several occasions. Catholics were understandably upset by the removal of a popular bishop against the wishes of the people of his diocese.
Bishop Gaillot was, at the time, the youngest bishop in France, a former rector of the seminary, an outspoken theologian and social activist. He was a champion of conscientious objectors (a difficult position in France), an opponent of war and violence, a defender of the rights of gays and lesbians, a champion for the handicapped, and a defender of the rights of Catholics marginalized by the Church: divorced and remarried Catholics, resigned and married priests, silenced theologians, etc.
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Reverend Warren Carlin, O.Carm. (center), with Allied Catholics for Peace and Justice in Paris, France.
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He had allowed himself to be interviewed on late-night television where he criticized the French government’s policy toward undocumented workers and illegal immigrants. He also allowed an interview with him to be published in a journal directed toward a gay audience.
His criticism of the government brought the Minister of the Interior down on his head. The Minister called the Vatican and told them they should do something about it. Caving in, Jacques Gaillot was removed from his diocese.
On a cold and rainy Sunday in Evreux, the people packed the cathedral, and lined up outside for blocks to say goodbye to their bishop. The crowd was made up mainly of the poor, laborers, handicapped, and marginalized of all sorts.
Being a hot-button issue for many Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic, “The Gaillot Case” drew the attention of Call To Action, America’s progressive Catholic organization. They tried on several occasions to get him to come and speak at their national convention. CTA was told each time that the bishop did not speak in countries where he did not know the language. Finally CTA assured the bishop’s office that he would have a translator/interpreter who would accompany him during the convention, and do a simultaneous translation of his talks. Bishop Jacques Gaillot finally accepted.
Call To Action then called me and I was informed that I would be the aforementioned translator. I had never done anything like this before. OK, I had done translations, but never the simultaneous kind where the translator speaks at practically the same rhythm as the native speaker. So I was a little nervous. All the more so when I called Jacques Gaillot’s office and was told that the bishop never speaks from a prepared text. He knows what he is going to say, but he doesn’t write it down beforehand. This meant I would then be “flying by the seat of my pants.”
Meeting the bishop, he immediately put me at ease, gave me a general idea of how his remarks would go, and seemed to be more interested in who I was than in the impression he might make on these conventioneers.
And it turned out that he was the easiest guy in the world to work with. The talk went beautifully. In general, he was proposing what he calls a “welcoming church” as opposed to a church which is exclusionary. “Catholic” should mean “here comes everybody.” The harmed, the lame, the physically and morally wounded, all should be able to find a place at the table of the Lord.
The video of his talk, our talk, was the most popular recording of that year’s convention. I have to admit, its edifying.
Since my first meeting with Jacques Gaillot, I have been in frequent contact with him and his team. The Vatican has appointed him bishop of “Partenia,” a titular see that existed in the fourth century but which is now merely a spot somewhere in the Sahara. Bishop Gaillot then put Partenia on the internet, so that anyone, of any faith or conviction or rejection, could become a member of his diocese. His office is in Paris, in rather shabby surroundings, and he and his people work tirelessly to improve the conditions of the poor and excluded, especially the homeless and undocumented workers.
Whenever I find myself in Paris, I try to get in touch with him. We get together to talk over the problems and little victories in the struggle for peace and justice in the world and in the church.
Bishop Gaillot is one of the most humble and generous men I have ever met. He speaks in a soft, quiet voice, but never hesitates to throw in an expletive or adjective which some might find vulgar or gross. For me, his conversations are a great lesson in French.
And the people who work with him are equally saintly: humble, bright, generous to an extreme. One day last spring, Friday, April 28th to be exact, I had dinner with Lucienne, a woman who has held elected political office for 26 years. During dinner, she told me that the following day, Saturday, they would all be gathering for a demonstration in the streets of Paris. It was to be a display of opposition to the government’s new law about the treatment of undocumented workers.
The Minister of Finance had referred to these “illegal” aliens, some of whom had been in France for anywhere from ten to twenty years (and had children born there), as “goods, only to be thrown away.” The position of Bishop Gaillot’s team was that people are never “things to be thrown away.”
Saying yes to be part of the demonstration, I showed up the next day at two o’clock in the afternoon at Place de la République and found that I was not alone. There were thousands of people there, of all ages and all races, and all political persuasions (except, of course, the near and far right wings!). My friends were there, with other members of the “Catholic Left,” and I was introduced all around as “a militant American come to join us.” I felt, as I always do around them, like a fraud. They treat me like I am Dan Berrigan or Jim Groppi, when I am just quiet little me. But I can march!!
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Second from left behind sign: Reverend Warren Carlin, O.Carm., marches with Americans Against the War at a mass demonstration in the streets of Paris in support of illegal immigrants.
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And march we did, chanting slogans like “People are not to be thrown away,” and “Sarkozy la Chiracaille!!!” (which would be too complicated to translate here.) We marched a distance of maybe four miles in the company of some well known left wing politicians and to the smiles and applause of many sympathetic spectators.
And I was not the only American there. Marching as well, was a group of “Americans Against the War,” about three blocks or so behind us. I left my little group and joined the Americans. Happy to speak English for a few minutes, I found I was carrying the banner next to a young woman who said she was from Naperville and knew Joliet quite well. Small world!!
When the march ended, all of us tired and a little hoarse, parted our ways believing we have put a tiny weight in the scale for justice. The newspapers the next day, indicated that the government had been somewhat embarrassed by the demonstration, and that new and more humane measures for dealing with the immigrants were being proposed.
For me this was a relatively rare occurrence, but for Bishop Jacques Gaillot and his people, it is an almost everyday thing. They head into the streets for every left wing cause that comes around, and in France they come around about every twenty minutes!!!
It is nice to know that in Saint Therese’s country there is much agitation on behalf of peace and justice for God’s outcasts. Maybe it is just me, but I always feel her presence there. And on that day, as on so many others, I whispered the old one-liner, “Little Flower, in this hour, show thy power.”
And I think she did.
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