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There will be no appeal for the donation of the faithful but an endowment fund exists that the faithful can feed, specifies Ambroise Laurent, Deputy Secretary General of the French Bishops’ Conference.
“The first faithful who are giving to endowment funds are the bishops themselves from their personal funds”, explained Ambroise Laurent, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Bishops of France, in charge of finances, invited Tuesday, November 9 on franceinfo. “All are giving important sums” to finance compensation for victims of sexual violence in the Church.
“They [les évêques] do not drive in Mercedes, but in fact, it is they who, the first, wanted to give the sign that solidarity does not concern only the institution. “
Ambroise Laurent, Deputy Secretary General of the CEFto franceinfo
If the current resources of the Church such as money or collections are excluded from this funding, the Conference of Bishops of France thinks it can count on the participation of certain faithful: “Those who want to give can give to the fund. It is an endowment fund like any other. We cannot stop generosity. And in fact, what is happening at the moment is that the faithful are generous since without any knowledge of the existence of this fund, some have already started to give to the funds. But it remains marginal “, explains the Deputy Secretary General.
Nevertheless, Ambroise Laurent confirms that “the essential will be provided by the institution and at the same time the dioceses, the movements of Catholic action, but also all the organizations which constitute the Church”. Starting with savings set aside to finance unforeseen events: “We are going to reduce the security that we have of having a little more than what is necessary to complete the year each year.”
As announced on Monday, November 8 by the Bishops’ Conference, this funding will be partly provided by a partial transfer of the real estate assets of the dioceses. “Since 1905, we have not rolled on gold but we have built churches, patronages, parish halls, presbyteries”, explains the Church Resource Manager. “This is where we will have to make an inventory and we will have to find elements to sell”.