MADAWASKA – The long-term future of two St. John Valley priests removed from their parishes during the weekend is still up in the air, a diocesan spokeswoman said Monday.

Their futures, according to spokeswoman Sue Bernard, will be determined later this week.

The Revs. Michael Doucette and John Audibert were placed on temporary administrative leave during the weekend.

“The only thing for certain at this point is that there will be no ministry for either one,” she said Monday. “Their future will be permanent leave or retirement.”

The two men are still priests. The removal of priests, or defrocking, is a lengthy, complicated process, Bernard said. It has never been done in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

The two priests were pastors at four St. John Valley parishes: St. Thomas Aquinas in Madawaska, St. Luce at Frenchville, St. Joseph at Sinclair; and St. Agatha.

Interim priests will minister in the parishes for an undisclosed period.

The usual time for pastors to be appointed to parishes in the diocese is July of each year.

Many parishioners appeared devastated by the loss of their priests during the weekend.

The two left their parishes Friday night after Auxiliary Bishop Michael Cote arrived in the St. John Valley. Cote informed parishioners of the new diocesan policy on sexual abuse of minors, and the removal of the two priests at Masses on Saturday and Sunday.

Bishop Joseph Gerry announced, through a diocesan letter read at parishes across the state, that the diocese now has a zero tolerance policy involving the sexual abuse of minors by priests.

Doucette and Audibert revealed to their parishes a month ago that they each were sexually involved with a minor in the 1970s. They received counseling at the time, and both were returned to parishes after being reviewed by a diocesan panel.

Parish councils where the two priests served, and parishioners, had told the bishop, through intermediaries, that they wanted the priests to remain in the parishes where they had been working since July 2001.