An independent commission appointed by L’Arche International has published a new report confirming that the founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier, sexually exploited and abused women.
The report provides evidence that the sexual exploitation of women was the primary motivation for Vanier’s founding of the organisation.
Jean Vanier, who founded the organisation in 1964, has been accused of exploiting at least 25 women until his death in 2019, according to the report.
The independent report states that Vanier created L’Arche as a “screen” to reunite a religious sect, L’Eau Vive, which was disbanded for its exploitive “mystical-sexual” beliefs and practices. These included “sexual abuse, collective delirium, and incestuous representations of relationships between Jesus and Mary”.
The report has sparked several questions about how the “mystical-sexual” practices remained hidden for nearly 80 years as L’Arche grew worldwide and why they remained confined to the first L’Arche community in Trosly-Breuil, France.
According to Mitchell Atencio, who has been covering the story for Sojourners magazine, an influx of new workers and increased contact with government authorities, which resulted from L’Arche’s rapid growth, confined and hid the small sectarian cohort in rural France.
The report highlights various reasons that led to the unchallenged reassembly of the former members of L’Eau Vive. One of the factors mentioned is the jurisdiction disputes that took place between the Dominicans in France, the local diocese, and the Vatican. Additionally, the report states that the Holy Office kept the reasons behind L’Eau Vive’s dissolution confidential.
The executive director of L’Arche USA, Tina Bovermann, has stated that the organisation “trusts and painfully accepts the truth that was revealed.” She also apologised for the suffering caused by the abuses and acknowledged that L’Arche was not able to prevent, identify, or report the abuses and could not stop them.
L’Arche praised for transparency
The report has already had a significant impact on the L’Arche organisation. L’Arche International is a member of the Commission Reconnaissance et Réparation (Recognition and Reparation Commission), an independent commission set up by the French Catholic Church to receive and treat reparation requests for abuse committed by clerics or lay people.
The commission’s restorative justice process offers individualised reparations ranging from financial compensation to therapeutic writing workshops.
L’Arche has been praised for its transparency and candour in the investigation process, which has been described as a truth-telling exercise in establishing what happened.
Jenna Barnett, who has been following the L’Arche story for several years, has been working on a podcast, “Lead Us Not,” which focuses on the aftermath of the abuse and healing for those affected.
The report serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing challenge of ensuring that vulnerable individuals are protected from abuse and exploitation, and that perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.
The report’s findings that the L’Arche founder sexually exploited women will profoundly impact the L’Arche community. It will also raise questions about how similar abuses can be prevented in the future.
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