The more than 800-page document released Monday after three years of work based on archives and testimonies reports at least 167 victims. It highlights in particular the role of the founder of the congregation, Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, who died in 2006.
No less than 72 brothers implicated and 167 victims identified. sexual violence and “spiritual abuse” committed within the religious community of the Brothers of Saint John were documented in an internal report by the community’s interdisciplinary commission, published on Monday 26 June.
The more than 800-page report, titled “Understanding and Healing – Origins and Analyzes of Abuse in the St. John Family,” was written in the hope “that such misdeeds never happen again”. It follows the first revelations that occurred in 2013 on the sexual violence committed by the founder of this congregation, Marie-Dominique Philippe, long dubbed by Pope John Paul II and died in 2006 at the age of 93.
A founding father who had also covered the violence committed by his brother, Thomas Philippe, condemned by Rome in 1956 and died in 1993. Another report, on L’Arche this time (a host community for people with intellectual disabilities) had already revealed the abuse and violence committed by the latter at the beginning of the year. Franceinfo summarizes for you what to remember from the document made public on Monday and which comes back to “the darkest part” of the community’s history.
72 brothers implicated, including 37 still members of the congregation
Dince the creation of the community in 1975, 167 victims have been identified, according to the authors of this report, which are based on numerous testimonies and an analysis of the archives. A number that leads them to evoke “a kind of virus (…) harmful” who has “contaminated” the Saint-Jean community “from its origin”.
In addition to the violence committed by the founder of the religious community, 72 of the 871 brothers of the congregation are accused of being at the origin of“sexual abuse”, to use the terms used in the report. Six women are also implicated. The acts described under the term “abuse” cover both “words, solicitations, harassment”, but also sexual assault and rape. Some of these implicated brothers had several victims. Eleven of them have “abused” of four or more people according to the report. “It is unfortunately certain that the number of actual abuses is higher,” specify the authors.
Among the 72 incriminated brothers, only six have been sentenced by the courts, and ten investigations are “still in progress”. Twelve complaints were also dismissed by the prosecution, assures the report, which affirms 37 incriminated brothers are still members of the congregation. But all of them have, at the very least, received a disciplinary sanction or are subject to procedures which may lead to their dismissal, depending on the degree of seriousness of the acts reported.
Women in the majority among the victims
“The majority of the acts were committed by brother priests in the context of spiritual accompaniment of adult women”, according to the authors of the report. Thus, 77% of the victims identified are girls or women. Among them, 41% are lay women and 18% are nuns. Boys under the age of 15 represent 6% of the victims, according to the census that the commission was able to carry out. community interdisciplinary.
Even if the trauma of this violence varies according to the victims, the authors of the report insist on the psychological and psychiatric consequences. loss of self-esteem and “great difficulty in trusting God and other people” were thus observed among the victims according to the testimonies.
A “system” established around the founder from the creation of the community
The authors of the report, among whom we find members of the religious community, but also lay people, historians or theologians, have set about “a deep review” of the history and internal culture of the Congregation of the Brothers of Saint John. They point in particular to the “systemic character” sexual violence. Among the avenues of analysis mentioned in the report in an attempt to understand this “systemic dimension”Iexistence of abuse “from the foundation of the community” would have helped to make it seem like “normal” these violence. THE “circle” which was built around the founder, Marie-Dominique Philippe, is another element of explanation. This entourage indeed functioned as a protection for the aggressors, passing the violence in silence. The members of this circle were themselves victims or “abusers”, can we still read in the document of more than 800 pages.
There “very strong intellectual and spiritual aura” of Marie-Dominique Philippe is also denounced. An aura that granted him a position of authority. The pedestal on which he was placed and the admiration carried by many disciples further favored the development of such acts, in particular by establishing a “intellectual and emotional dependence” among the most vulnerable. Finally, the “abuse” that took place during the confession made “almost impossible to report” because of the dimension of confidentiality and the sacred dimension.
Sexual violence that is accompanied by “spiritual abuse”
The report sets out to relate the sexual violence that took place within the religious community, but it also evokes at length the phenomenon of“spiritual abuse”. THE “sexual abuse depend generally from spiritual abuse, especially during long-term accompaniment”insist the authors of the report, according to whom the two phenomena are largely intertwined.
Nor can they be mentioned without mentioning “abuse of authority”, “abuse of conscience”which also raged in the congregation. “In any case, it is the question of influence that arises” summarizes the report. According to the authors of this work, the religious doctrine of the Saint-Jean community may have favored these spiritual or sexual abuses. “by offering justifications” to the perpetrators of the violence, especially when the texts exalt the “motion of the Spirit to the detriment of the human” and therefore prevent “the healthy reactions of the conscience”.
Similarly, the founder of the religious group regularly resorted to the doctrine of “friendship love” with secular people to justify sexual assaults which he described as “pure” because “without penetration”. According to Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, a friend should be able to receive these gestures and “support”, testifies a former brother. Having a friend was even “primordial”, because “the only way to be able to access the life of the authentic brother of Saint-Jean”, says one victim. This theory was then used by other members of this religious community to justify, in turn, the sexual violence committed.