Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

• December 2025
• November 2025
• October 2025
• September 2025
• August 2025
• July 2025
• June 2025
• May 2025
• April 2025
• March 2025
• February 2025
• January 2025
• December 2024
• November 2024
• October 2024
• September 2024
• August 2024
• July 2024
• June 2024
• May 2024
• April 2024
• March 2024
• February 2024
• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• July 2023
• June 2023
• May 2023
• April 2023
• March 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023

Search

Search

Subscribe to The Angry Atheist and get a FREE copy of Atheist Limericks & Cartoons!

Please click this link to help me keep The Angry Atheist active with a donation.

ARCHBISHOP Guy André Marie de Kerimel, above, of the Archdiocese of Toulouse – Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux has come under fire for appointing Fr Dominique Spina as the chancellor and episcopal delegate for marriages of the Toulouse archdiocese.

After French news outlets made the announcement of Spina’s new appointment public this week, the Archdiocese of Toulouse has received widespread criticism from support groups and victims of clerical sexual abuse, including Spina’s victim, identified as Frédéric.

Frédéric, told the French Charlie Hebdo that he was “not surprised” by Spina’s promotion, adding:

Being a priest is the only profession where you manage to find a new job despite committing abominable crimes.

According to a statement obtained by French news outlets, Kerimel said that he has “taken the side of mercy” in regards to Father Spina.

Frédéric criticised Archbishop Kerimel’s statement, asking whether mercy had been shown to victims of clerical sexual abuse.

In 2006, Spina was convicted of rape and sentenced to five years in prison. After serving four years, he was released with a suspended sentence.

According to Le Monde, psychiatric experts at Spina’s trial testified that the priest had “paranoid, narcissistic and perverse dispositions,” no sense of his own responsibility for the crimes, and was at risk of committing similar crimes in the future.

After being released from prison, Spina was incardinated in the Diocese of Toulouse where he was assigned to a local parish. There, he was in charge of children’s ministry.

As chancellor, Spina will be in charge of assisting the archbishop with official communications and with advising and assisting on other administrative matters.

Ordained for the Diocese of Bayonne, Spina was a high school chaplain and parish priest in the town of Pau. He was also diocesan vocations director before facing criminal charges.

Multiple rapes occurred between 1993 and 1994 when the victim Frédéric, was 16 years old and a student at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a local school engulfed in a series of sexual abuse scandals that took place from the 1970s to the late 1990s.

The archbishop cited “good conduct” by Spina following his conviction for his decision to make Spina chancellor.

Jérôme Moreau, president of the French victims’ federation, told French news site Liberation that:

Having people promoted based on the fact that they have good conduct sends a very bad message. Especially for the direct victim of this priest, it’s extremely painful.

1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

4. 

   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

5. 

   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

Please help me keep The Angry Atheist going with a donation.