“No one will be able to call us liars anymore”

After eighteen years of fierce combat, the “walls of silence” have finally fallen. Father Bernard Tartu was sentenced by the national canonical criminal court (TPCN) in April 2024, a sentence confirmed and notified on November 13 to the diocese of Tours (Indre-et-Loire).

The former choir director was found guilty by the Church of sexual assault on nine former Petits Chanteurs de Touraine, between 1967 and 1988, when they were aged 9 to 12. “They are officially recognized as victims of Abbot Tartu,” proclaimed the Archbishop of Tours, Friday November 29, 2024, during the press conference organized at the diocese. “No one will be able to call us liars anymore! “, adds Christophe, one of the complainants.

“Half-word” confessions

“This conviction is an outcome, I have been waiting for it for a long time”confides Gilles. By filing a complaint in 2006 against Father Bernard Tartu, then by testifying in The New Republic in 2021, he could not imagine awakening the memory of his comrades. Reunited again, the former choristers united within the collective Les Voix Libérations in December 2021, a few weeks after the Ciase report (1).

Their complaints were ultimately all dismissed due to the statute of limitations, but the judicial investigations led the priest to admit “a certain amount of sexual touching, recalls Catherine Champrenault, president of France Victimes 37. Even if he wanted to justify them by pseudo-medical reasons. »

Half-hearted confessions reiterated to the Archbishop of Tours, in August 2022, who then sent the file to Rome so that it could be submitted to canonical justice. “The limitation period was lifted due to the seriousness of the facts, retrace Mgr Vincent Jordy. I then asked that the trial be brought by the TPCN. » The court rendered a provisional judgment in April 2024, implemented and notified on November 13, 2024.

The regret of not seeing the abbot “defrocked”

The announcement of his conviction could have sparked regrets, apologies or the end of Father Tartu's ambiguity. “Unfortunately, no”confides Mgr Jordy, who went in person to Blois (Loir-et-Cher) to inform the Touraine priest of his sentence.

If the abbot is now banned from practicing, victims express their regrets at not seeing him “returned to life” et “defrocked” by the Church. “There is no ecclesiastical bracelet nor Church prison, recalls Bishop Jordy. When a priest is dismissed from the clerical state, he finds himself on the street. By keeping him within the institution, we also ensure that he does not commit the act again. »

Support from the National Reparation Authority

The time has now come for reconstruction for the members of the Voix Libérations collective, which is becoming an association to better continue its prevention and awareness-raising actions. “This day is the symbol of total appeasement, of inner peace”describes Benedict, evoking in particular a bond of trust now established with the diocese. “But our bodies will always remember,” recalls Christophe.

Since May 2022, they have been accompanied and supported by Inirr (2). “We contribute to the establishment of the truthexplains its president Marie Derain de Vaucresson. But also to repair, particularly in a financial dimension. We need a profound evolution in the Church so that no child is ever again a victim. »

It is in this dynamic that a memorial plaque will be installed in March 2025 at the entrance to the Saint-Martin basilica, in Tours, in order to inform the public of the way in which the collective and the diocese have highlighted these revelations. A visit to the Pope would also be planned.

(1) Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church.

(2) Independent national body for reparation and recognition.