After an investigation by “Libération” in February revealed the fundamentalist excesses within the Catholic school group that he directed, Christian Espeso will no longer be able to work as director for three years, until his retirement. His lawyer wants to refer the matter to the administrative court.
Seven months after the investigation of Release on the fundamentalist excesses and attacks on secularism within the Immaculate Conception in Pau, the largest private establishment under contract in Béarn, the rector of Bordeaux, Anne Bisagni-Faure, sanctioned Christian Espeso, 61, the head of this school group, received this Wednesday, September 11 at the academic inspection of Pau. Appointed eleven years ago to the “Immac” by Monsignor Aillet, the ultraconservative bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), he is now prohibited from managing an establishment for three years, until his retirement. A rare sanction, decided in a «individual» by the rector after the inspection carried out at the Immaculate Conception from April 4 to 16, then the summons of Christian Espeso on August 29 for a disciplinary interview. The latter can still continue to work as a teacher or in an administrative position, in this private school or another, unless the diocesan management of Catholic education decides otherwise.
“We cry with joy, reacts a mobilized teacher. The institution has finally decided to implement its authority to ensure the proper functioning of the public service, compliance with the law, the association contract and what can be expected in terms of management policy. This shows above all that we have been telling the truth from the start, that this is not a personal conflict.” The core of mobilized teachers, out of the 250 that the establishment has, had already reported to the Bordeaux rectorate, in December 2020, 19 attacks on secularism mixing confessions and sacraments taught during class hours, compulsory catechism in certain classes or censorship of books.
Denouncing a “manhunt”, Me Thierry Sagardoytho, Christian Espeso’s lawyer, greets “This man who dedicated his professional life to Catholic education and republican values […] sacrificed on the expiatory altar of the recurring attacks against private education. It is detrimental that the leftist ideology of a few has taken precedence over the excellence of the education provided by the educational community of the establishment.”
Me Thierry Sagardoytho intends to appeal to the Bordeaux administrative court for annulment of the “excess of power” du rectorate via un “suspension referral”.
