The Society of Missionaries of Divine Mercy, a French community of priests accepted by its diocese and devoted to the celebration of the sacraments according to 1962 Missal, has requested prayers after learning that the Vatican now forbids the ordination of those pursuing the priestly vocation within the group.
The Society of the Missionaries of Divine Mercy is a society of apostolic life dedicated to Eucharistic adoration and evangelization, especially of Muslims. The society was founded in the French diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in 2005 by Fr. Fabrice Loiseau, who was inspired to attach the community to the ancient rite.
In 2022, the Vatican ordered an apostolic investigation of the bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, Most Reverend François Touvet, upon complaints from fellow bishops that the diocese was “not being synodal.”
The diocese is known for its unusual number of priestly vocations and for Bishop Touvet’s openness to new charisms, including some associated with the Traditional Latin Mass. During the investigation, all diaconal and priestly ordinations in the diocese were suspended.
But when ordinations resumed in the diocese, seminarians from the Society of Missionaries of Divine Mercy were singled out and not permitted to be ordained.
In a statement, Fr. Jean-Raphaël Dubrule, superior of the community, announced that “for over two years for one of” the members of the community “and one year for the other four, five seminarians from the community of Missionaries of Divine Mercy have been waiting for diaconal and then priestly ordination.”
“Following many discussions with the competent Roman authorities, supported by Bishop Touvet, whom I warmly thank for his great support to our community, it appears that the situation is blocked not only due to the rite of ordination but also due to the possibility for future priests to celebrate in the old rite,” Fr. Dubrule wrote.
No certainty has been given by the Roman authorities, and it could therefore be that candidates are ordained without having the right to celebrate later according to the old rite. They would then no longer be able to exercise their ministry within the community and in accordance with the statutes.
The superior of the community said that his statement was necessary “in response to numerous questions from the faithful” and to “call for very intense prayer, as the dialogue with the Roman authorities continues.”
“This trial we are experiencing in no way makes us regret the work of diocesan integration that the community is doing and living. It calls for renewed prayer and vigilance,” the statement concludes.
