The Echo de Paris of Monday published a long letter
written by M. Briand to M. Barres in answer to a complaint that a parish church at Brisy-Suisnes had been secularised and destroyed. M. Briand points out that the principle of the Concordat still holds good that a church may not be secularised unless religious services have not been held in it for six months. The clergy can therefore prevent secularisa- tion if they wish. The church at Brisy-Suisnes had been deserted for a new church, and no service had been held in it for nearly two years. The clergy and congregation had been invited to repair it, but as they did not do so the municipality, with the permission of the Government, had pulled it down in the interests of public safety. M. Barres's comment on this letter is that secularisa- tion is deliberately brought about in some districts by the Mayors, who forbid worship in the churches if there is the slightest sign that the buildings are in want of repair. The Times correspondent, however, adds a most important rider to M. Barres's comment when he says that the law of 1907 provides that the six-months clause shall not hold good if public worship has ceased in a church by order of the authorities. At Brisy-Suisnes, therefore, the church could not have been legally secularised even after two years except through the fault of its owners. The correspov4ence does nothing to discredit M. Briand, who is, we believe, determined to administer the law in a considerate manner.
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