Dear Friends of L’Arche Seattle,
It is with deep sadness that I share this devastating and heartbreaking news with you through this communication from L’Arche USA below. Very likely you are already aware due to several news stories which leaked before L’Arche USA’s planned release.
At the moment it is very hard to find words. The betrayal is so deeply personal as Jen and I have been living a vocation in L’Arche for over 30 years. To discover the duplicity of our founder leaves us angry, shocked, devastated, confounded and profoundly sad for the women who have been so deeply hurt. Our hearts go out to them. We stand with and support them, and we commend their courage and honesty. Truth and light are everything.
As our minds and hearts reel with the enormity of this betrayal, we are aware of our immense gratitude for all of you, for what you have given and been in the service of the mission and vision of L’Arche Noah Sealth. As we grieve this devastating blow, the beauty of our community and all the good that has been lived here is the treasure we hold onto and draw consolation from in the coming weeks, months and years.
From the bottom of my heart I am also heartbroken by the hurt, anger and sadness that this news will cause you.
Sincerely,
Gerry
Gerry Scully,
Director, L'Arche Noah Sealth
It is with deep sadness that I share this devastating and heartbreaking news with you through this communication from L’Arche USA below. Very likely you are already aware due to several news stories which leaked before L’Arche USA’s planned release.
At the moment it is very hard to find words. The betrayal is so deeply personal as Jen and I have been living a vocation in L’Arche for over 30 years. To discover the duplicity of our founder leaves us angry, shocked, devastated, confounded and profoundly sad for the women who have been so deeply hurt. Our hearts go out to them. We stand with and support them, and we commend their courage and honesty. Truth and light are everything.
As our minds and hearts reel with the enormity of this betrayal, we are aware of our immense gratitude for all of you, for what you have given and been in the service of the mission and vision of L’Arche Noah Sealth. As we grieve this devastating blow, the beauty of our community and all the good that has been lived here is the treasure we hold onto and draw consolation from in the coming weeks, months and years.
From the bottom of my heart I am also heartbroken by the hurt, anger and sadness that this news will cause you.
Sincerely,
Gerry
Gerry Scully,
Director, L'Arche Noah Sealth
Dear members and friends,
It is with a mix of pain and resolve that I share with you the results of the independent inquiry that L’Arche International launched in the summer of 2019. Pain, because of the suffering of innocent lives. Pain, because of the hurt that it might create in you, members and friends. Resolve, because truth matters. Resolve, because the value of every person matters. Always. Unconditionally. Particularly when marginalized and silenced for many years.
We believe it is critically important for L'Arche around the world to acknowledge the results, although none of the inquiry's findings relate to L'Arche in the United States. As L’Arche International’s communication states, the inquiry found:
At least a decade before the founding of L’Arche, Jean Vanier was made aware of the fact that Father Thomas Philippe, his spiritual director, had emotionally and sexually abused adult women without disabilities. This abuse happened in the context of Philippe's spiritual direction in 1951/1952. It is common knowledge that Philippe was banned from exercising any public or private ministry in a trial conducted by the Catholic Church in 1956. Jean Vanier repeatedly and publicly stated that he did not know why Philippe was convicted. We now know that Jean Vanier lied. He was aware of his mentor’s behaviors.
More so, as a member of a group of followers of Philippe, starting in the 1950s, Jean Vanier not only subscribed to Philippe’s theology, which the Catholic Church deemed heretical. He also shared sexual practices, similar to those of Philippe, with several women. The inquiry found no evidence that these specific relationships were not consensual. It is clear that Jean Vanier enabled Philippe to be involved in the L’Arche community in Trosly until his death in 1993, and thus potentially failed to prevent further abuse.
In 2015, the Catholic Church convicted Philippe a second time for 14 cases of emotional and sexual abuse of adult women without a disability in the 1970s and 1980s. Jean Vanier had heard from some of the survivors, but dismissed the pain and suffering of the women who confided in him. He did not pursue or report these allegations of sexual abuse. Jean Vanier was thus complicit in covering up Philippe’s abuse.
Lastly, the inquiry reveals that Jean Vanier himself has been accused of manipulative sexual relationships and emotional abuse between 1970 and 2005, usually within a relational context where he exercised significant power and a psychological hold over the alleged victims. These allegations have been brought forward by six courageous adult women. None of them had an intellectual disability. The inquiry has found the allegations to be credible. Independently from one another, the witnesses describe similar occurrences, which had a long-lasting and negative impact on their personal lives and subsequent relationships.
It goes without saying that these revelations are shocking and saddening. We strongly condemn any behavior that violates the emotional and physical integrity of others. At L’Arche, dignity matters: we believe in the inherent value of every human being. We are determined to reflect on what we believed to be true about L’Arche’s founder and L’Arche’s founding story. We remain committed, as always, to safeguarding all of our members, with and without intellectual disabilities, here in the U.S. today. A comprehensive safeguarding initiative is currently being implemented as part of our continuing commitment to these core values.
While we are unaware of similar allegations within L'Arche in the United States, we encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed abusive behavior of any kind within L'Arche to report their concern.
We acknowledge the incredible courage of the witnesses who testified during this investigation. The bravery of these women calls us to recognize the importance of truth-telling and its alignment with our core values. While many questions will yet be answered in the coming months and years, we stand today on the side of those who have been harmed.
With sincerity,
Tina Bovermann,
National Leader L'Arche USA
It is with a mix of pain and resolve that I share with you the results of the independent inquiry that L’Arche International launched in the summer of 2019. Pain, because of the suffering of innocent lives. Pain, because of the hurt that it might create in you, members and friends. Resolve, because truth matters. Resolve, because the value of every person matters. Always. Unconditionally. Particularly when marginalized and silenced for many years.
We believe it is critically important for L'Arche around the world to acknowledge the results, although none of the inquiry's findings relate to L'Arche in the United States. As L’Arche International’s communication states, the inquiry found:
At least a decade before the founding of L’Arche, Jean Vanier was made aware of the fact that Father Thomas Philippe, his spiritual director, had emotionally and sexually abused adult women without disabilities. This abuse happened in the context of Philippe's spiritual direction in 1951/1952. It is common knowledge that Philippe was banned from exercising any public or private ministry in a trial conducted by the Catholic Church in 1956. Jean Vanier repeatedly and publicly stated that he did not know why Philippe was convicted. We now know that Jean Vanier lied. He was aware of his mentor’s behaviors.
More so, as a member of a group of followers of Philippe, starting in the 1950s, Jean Vanier not only subscribed to Philippe’s theology, which the Catholic Church deemed heretical. He also shared sexual practices, similar to those of Philippe, with several women. The inquiry found no evidence that these specific relationships were not consensual. It is clear that Jean Vanier enabled Philippe to be involved in the L’Arche community in Trosly until his death in 1993, and thus potentially failed to prevent further abuse.
In 2015, the Catholic Church convicted Philippe a second time for 14 cases of emotional and sexual abuse of adult women without a disability in the 1970s and 1980s. Jean Vanier had heard from some of the survivors, but dismissed the pain and suffering of the women who confided in him. He did not pursue or report these allegations of sexual abuse. Jean Vanier was thus complicit in covering up Philippe’s abuse.
Lastly, the inquiry reveals that Jean Vanier himself has been accused of manipulative sexual relationships and emotional abuse between 1970 and 2005, usually within a relational context where he exercised significant power and a psychological hold over the alleged victims. These allegations have been brought forward by six courageous adult women. None of them had an intellectual disability. The inquiry has found the allegations to be credible. Independently from one another, the witnesses describe similar occurrences, which had a long-lasting and negative impact on their personal lives and subsequent relationships.
It goes without saying that these revelations are shocking and saddening. We strongly condemn any behavior that violates the emotional and physical integrity of others. At L’Arche, dignity matters: we believe in the inherent value of every human being. We are determined to reflect on what we believed to be true about L’Arche’s founder and L’Arche’s founding story. We remain committed, as always, to safeguarding all of our members, with and without intellectual disabilities, here in the U.S. today. A comprehensive safeguarding initiative is currently being implemented as part of our continuing commitment to these core values.
While we are unaware of similar allegations within L'Arche in the United States, we encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed abusive behavior of any kind within L'Arche to report their concern.
We acknowledge the incredible courage of the witnesses who testified during this investigation. The bravery of these women calls us to recognize the importance of truth-telling and its alignment with our core values. While many questions will yet be answered in the coming months and years, we stand today on the side of those who have been harmed.
With sincerity,
Tina Bovermann,
National Leader L'Arche USA
Beyond Jean Vanier
Protecting the legacy of service to the vulnerable
by Michael Higgins, used with permission of author and Globe and Mail
In a time when the reputations of the great, the influential and our cultural shapers can deconstruct with surprising if distressing regularity, the shock factor is often minimized. Not so in the case of Jean Vanier.
Following the disclosure of findings from an investigation ordered by L’Arche International, the world is now aware that at least six adult women alleged that the L’Arche founder, a Canadian icon revered universally for his philosophy of care for the disabled, sexually and emotionally abused them.
This is devastating news; there is no way that it can be soft-pedalled.
The investigating team did its homework; L’Arche International is to be applauded for undertaking the difficult but necessary task of prioritizing justice for the victims over safeguarding the reputation of the founder, who died last May at 90.
The investigators unearthed information available only through access to Mr. Vanier’s private archives and the conclusions of a canonical inquiry into the spirituality and behavior of Mr. Vanier’s “spiritual father,” controversial Dominican friar and theologian Pere Thomas Philippe.
They examined extensive correspondence between Pere Philippe and Mr. Vanier over the many years of their relationship. They also looked at detailed knowledge of the various efforts by the Dominican superiors in France to censure and limit the activities and ministry of Pere Philippe, and at recent inquiries around accusations against Mr. Vanier of “consensual” sexual relations.
This is one godawful mess.
The investigators establish incontrovertibly the malign influence of Pere Philippe on Mr. Vanier, his specious claim for a unique spiritual stature dependent on his peculiar mysticism, his power in the confessional to dispense special graces, and his exalted sense of himself as a mediator of divine love that is reminiscent of Rasputin’s magnetic and perverse power over the Romanovs. We have seen the paradigm before.
Pere Philippe’s eccentric if not heterodox Marian theology and his ministry were denounced by Rome. Head office did the right thing. His own order sidelined him. But he came back and his return was, according to the investigators, in great measure facilitated by Mr. Vanier.
More troublesome is the data that indicates Mr. Vanier emulated the corrosive pastoral approach of his spiritual father in his own counselling and behavior. The sins of the spiritual father, as it were.
We have seen again and again how this works. BBC2 documentary The Church’s Darkest Secret, aired last month, explores the history of abuse by the influential and dynamic former Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, whose quasi-monastic community of young men was a den of abuse and control. Yet so many in high places, including the Prince of Wales, considered him a friend, sought his counsel, and dismissed rumors of his immoral and destructive behavior (one of his charges committed suicide) as vicious calumny.
There is a strange irony in that Pere Philippe’s brother, Marie-Dominique, a University of Fribourg philosophy professor and a founder of his own order, the Community of St. John, has been unmasked as a serial abuser and his original foundation subject to dissolution. The sins of the spiritual brother, as it were.
In the end, although this is not the end, one can draw some conclusions. The explosive combination of spiritual and erotic intimacy should be seen for what it is rather than posing as a special innocence, an entitled relationship. The deep pathology that runs through centuries of Catholic teaching on sexuality – a pathology marked by a deep fear of sexual pleasure with its body versus spirit dualism – needs to be recognized for its destructive potential. And the aftershocks of patriarchy reverberate throughout all of society. It’s time for a new and healthier anthropology.
The Vanier case doesn’t happen in isolation. None of our spiritual celebrities are bulletproof.
The Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, noted that although personally cleared on appeal of his conviction of neglect regarding the notorious pedophile Bernard Preynat, his reputation will be forever tarred by the scandal. So, too, Mr. Vanier’s. The enormous good accomplished by his ministry to the disabled and his numerous books and public lectures are now imperiled.
All the more reason to laud L’Arche International for its honest, spin-free approach. It understands the stakes are high. There is a grander legacy to protect: service to the vulnerable.
Following the disclosure of findings from an investigation ordered by L’Arche International, the world is now aware that at least six adult women alleged that the L’Arche founder, a Canadian icon revered universally for his philosophy of care for the disabled, sexually and emotionally abused them.
This is devastating news; there is no way that it can be soft-pedalled.
The investigating team did its homework; L’Arche International is to be applauded for undertaking the difficult but necessary task of prioritizing justice for the victims over safeguarding the reputation of the founder, who died last May at 90.
The investigators unearthed information available only through access to Mr. Vanier’s private archives and the conclusions of a canonical inquiry into the spirituality and behavior of Mr. Vanier’s “spiritual father,” controversial Dominican friar and theologian Pere Thomas Philippe.
They examined extensive correspondence between Pere Philippe and Mr. Vanier over the many years of their relationship. They also looked at detailed knowledge of the various efforts by the Dominican superiors in France to censure and limit the activities and ministry of Pere Philippe, and at recent inquiries around accusations against Mr. Vanier of “consensual” sexual relations.
This is one godawful mess.
The investigators establish incontrovertibly the malign influence of Pere Philippe on Mr. Vanier, his specious claim for a unique spiritual stature dependent on his peculiar mysticism, his power in the confessional to dispense special graces, and his exalted sense of himself as a mediator of divine love that is reminiscent of Rasputin’s magnetic and perverse power over the Romanovs. We have seen the paradigm before.
Pere Philippe’s eccentric if not heterodox Marian theology and his ministry were denounced by Rome. Head office did the right thing. His own order sidelined him. But he came back and his return was, according to the investigators, in great measure facilitated by Mr. Vanier.
More troublesome is the data that indicates Mr. Vanier emulated the corrosive pastoral approach of his spiritual father in his own counselling and behavior. The sins of the spiritual father, as it were.
We have seen again and again how this works. BBC2 documentary The Church’s Darkest Secret, aired last month, explores the history of abuse by the influential and dynamic former Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, whose quasi-monastic community of young men was a den of abuse and control. Yet so many in high places, including the Prince of Wales, considered him a friend, sought his counsel, and dismissed rumors of his immoral and destructive behavior (one of his charges committed suicide) as vicious calumny.
There is a strange irony in that Pere Philippe’s brother, Marie-Dominique, a University of Fribourg philosophy professor and a founder of his own order, the Community of St. John, has been unmasked as a serial abuser and his original foundation subject to dissolution. The sins of the spiritual brother, as it were.
In the end, although this is not the end, one can draw some conclusions. The explosive combination of spiritual and erotic intimacy should be seen for what it is rather than posing as a special innocence, an entitled relationship. The deep pathology that runs through centuries of Catholic teaching on sexuality – a pathology marked by a deep fear of sexual pleasure with its body versus spirit dualism – needs to be recognized for its destructive potential. And the aftershocks of patriarchy reverberate throughout all of society. It’s time for a new and healthier anthropology.
The Vanier case doesn’t happen in isolation. None of our spiritual celebrities are bulletproof.
The Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, noted that although personally cleared on appeal of his conviction of neglect regarding the notorious pedophile Bernard Preynat, his reputation will be forever tarred by the scandal. So, too, Mr. Vanier’s. The enormous good accomplished by his ministry to the disabled and his numerous books and public lectures are now imperiled.
All the more reason to laud L’Arche International for its honest, spin-free approach. It understands the stakes are high. There is a grander legacy to protect: service to the vulnerable.
Michael W. Higgins is distinguished professor of Catholic thought at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. He is co-author of Suffer the Children unto Me: An Open Inquiry into the Clerical Sex Abuse Scandal.