Protest at French church after FSSP clergy removed by bishop

Banners now hang from the railings around Notre-Dame de Valence as protests continue against what is viewed as diocese suppression of the FSSP-run church.

The banners read: “Retirerla messe traditionnelle est une erreur exceptionnelle” (“Removing the traditional Mass is a grave mistake”) and “Uniscontre la désunion” (“United against disunity”).

On 13 August 2025, the faithful of Notre-Dame de Valence, located in southeastern France within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, and long served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), were abruptly stripped of their priests by Bishop François Durand.

‍He announced that from the start of the school year the traditional-rite liturgy, catechism and week day Masses would disappear.

As a result, for weeks parishioners have camped in the car park, keeping watch day and night in an effort to maintain both diocesan and traditional liturgies.

“We hold rosaries every evening. After Sunday Mass, we all stay and have dinner together,” one parishioner told Paix Liturgique. “In recent months, the persecutions have considerably strengthened the cohesion and bonds within our parish community.”

Many parishioners, especially younger converts, are deeply shaken. “Some people here have only known Father Stemler. For them, his departurei s a personal tragedy,” one member explained.

Another parishioner was more direct: “The bishop has broken our parish like a toy, fired the FSSP, and once the toy was broken, he lost interest in our fate.”

The silence of the diocese over the matter has been described as “like an investment fund located across theAtlantic that implements a redundancy plan in a factory in the depths of Drôme and completely ignores the reactions on the ground".

While Bishop Durand has spent much of the summer in Lourdes and Rome, his flock in Valence feel abandoned.

A father of the parish community expressed their hurt: “We are blatantly ignored, denied our desire to be fully-fledged Catholics of the diocese, because of our Mass, because we defend the sacraments and the catechism. Bishop Durand … is persecuting Catholics who welcomed him and respect him but who are not calves!”

In an open letter sent earlier this month, parishioners urged the bishop to seek an exemption for Valence like the one granted in the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, where celebrations of the old rite may continue for two more years.

They concluded starkly: “You told us we would no longer be received and that you were leaving on vacation. It is out of necessity, not choice, that we speak to you publicly.”

Photo: Priest grasping cross. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP via Getty Images)

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