Listen to People: General Introduction to the Investigation
The general introduction of Control and Abuse Investigation on Thomas Philippe, Jean Vanier, and L'Arche (1950-2019).
The Origins of the Study Commission
In the fall of 2020, L’Arche International commissioned a survey to be conducted by the Study Commission so that they may be able to look into the true history of and the motivations behind L’Arche, in addition to the dynamics in L’Arche that permitted the abuse that occurred.
This investigation by the Study Commission was a response to several testimonies of women whom Thomas Philippe or Jean Vanier had abused, preceded by other investigations. In 2014, Archbishop Pierre d’Ornellas, the archbishop of Rennes, France, began the canonical investigation into Thomas Philippe after many members of L’Arche came forward about how they had suffered at his hands. This investigation was initiated under canon no. 1717, a law in the Catholic Church that states, “Whenever an ordinary has knowledge, which at least seems true, of a delict, he is carefully to inquire personally or through another suitable person about the facts, circumstances, and imputability...” This means that when the bishop hears of a violation of law, whether Church or civil, must inquire into this violation and declare whether or not a process to give a penalty is necessary or a judicial process must be used.
This investigation was entrusted to a Dominican priest, Paul-Dominique Marcovits. During this process, Archbishop d’Ornellas wrote to Fr. Marcovits, asking him to “listen to people as much as possible, in order not only to know the facts in their exactness, but to show these people that the Church understands their suffering and their words.”1 After three months, Marcovits concluded in his report2 that the allegations brought forward were well-founded. This report prompted Judy Farquharson, a Canadian woman, to write a “posteriori” in May 2016 under the pen name of Myriam that stated she had been abused by T. Philippe3 in addition to Jean Vanier. This information had been known since at least mid-2013 by a person in charge at L’Arche. This letter was similar to another letter written in December 2014 by an anonymous woman that had been received in confidentiality by a senior official of L’Arche International.
In March 2019, two months before the death of Jean Vanier, new anonymous testimony was submitted to the senior officials of L’Arche International that consisted of “a sufficient point of support to launch an investigation.”4 Four days before Vanier’s death in May, L’Arche International commissioned GCPS Consulting to “review” allegations made against Vanier and “‘audit’” how L’Arche International dealt with ‘reports of abuse, past or recent.’”5 It was also during this time that they asked Antoine Mourges to make a historical investigation into the role of Vanier in the group of “little ones” that followed T. Philippe in the days before L’Arche had been founded. The main conclusions of the GCPS Consulting and Mourges reports were made public in February 2020 by both L’Arche and the press.
In the wake of these reports, the testimonies of six women, the revelation of Vanier’s knowledge of T. Philippe’s abuses, the #MeToo movement, and investigations into sexual crimes in Catholic institutions, the leaders of L’Arche set up a Study Commission. This commission was “made up of six researchers from different disciplines: history, sociology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and theology.”6
The Aims
The aim of the Commission is “to establish historical facts and make intelligible a complex collective history.”7 The history of Jean Vanier and the founding of L’Arche had been hidden by both Vanier and Thomas Philippe, and so the Commission sought to shed light on the true story of L’Arche’s founding, its motivations, the cultural and institutional dynamics, and the systematic dimensions of the situations of abuse created by T. Philippe and Vanier.
The Commission identifies two axes that frame the focus of the report. The first axis is on Vanier - “to understand the context in which he lived and acted.”8 The second axis is about Vanier and his environment, particularly that of L’Arche’s founding, spirituality, and modus operandi.
In addition to these axes, the Commission proposes two grievances against Vanier. The first grievance is Vanier’s “complicity” with T. Philippe in his defense and cover-up of Philippe’s abuses. The second grievance is that Vanier “reproduced the pattern of spiritual influence and sexual abuse by T. Philippe.”9 Vanier not only lied for T. Philippe, but in his devotion repeated T. Philippe’s crimes.
All in all, the Commission stated that their aims are not only to focus on the relationship between Vanier and L’Arche but also on Vanier and T. Philippe’s relationship, as understanding the former cannot happen without understanding the latter.
The Method and the Work
The study was done in three ways - collecting, documenting, and understanding. At the end of the report, one will find a list of the institutions visited and descriptions of materials from France, Rome, and Canada. These included the investigations that have already been discussed in addition to the inquiry that was carried out in 1952 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a department of the Roman Curia responsible for defending Catholic doctrine. This investigation was conducted by Paul Cardinal Philippe,10 who was a Dominican priest at the time, for three decades. He “accumulated testimonies, doctors’ reports, memoirs, notes, and led to a set of canonical sanctions”11 that would directly affect Vanier and indirectly L’Arche.
The Study Commission received support from all archival institutions that were contacted, except for the archives of St. Michael’s University College, particularly when it came to the archives of L’Arche Daybreak, the community with which Henri Nouwen lived for a time.
Most of the archives of L’Eau Vive, the group led by T. Philippe, were destroyed when it was closed in June-July 1956. However, the Dominican archives in Rome and Paris and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had some of the main elements from this period. There are intact Vanier’s diaries from 1965 to 2019, in addition to some work files, and the NFA12 papers which include 1,400 letters from T. Philippe and women such as Jacqueline d’Halluin and Anne de Rosanbo, whose roles will be described in later articles. The Library and Archives of Canada (Ottawa) have the letters Vanier sent to his parents.
Four members of the Commission did 119 interviews with 89 people. These were people who had abusive or transgressive relationships with Vanier, T. Philippe, or “with other members of L’Arche who appear to have been initiated into the group’s 'mystical-sexual’ beliefs and practices;”13 those who were present to the history of the L’Arche community that Vanier and T. Philippe founded in (Trosly-Breuil); close friends of Vanier; and “members of L’Arche who have held positions of responsibility at different levels…at different times.”14 Only 15 people declined to interview with the Commission. It is speculated that this could be due to the silencing of survivors, as one wrote, “‘I spoke about that (it is about an abuse), not long ago, to Jean Vanier, and he also that it was good to bury that and to give thanks for Father Thomas.’”15 This law of silence was predicated by T. Philippe in his dealings with his directees, as was observed in the Marcovits Report from 2015.
The Vocabulary Used
Trigger warning: sexual abuse, incest.
Canon Law - The Commission identified vocabulary particular to Vanier and T. Philippe that applied to canon law, as neither person was ever brought before civil law. Here is some of this language:
“Things”
Influence
The Commission defines influence in this document as “a process by which a person takes control the experiences of the social world of another person, in all the dimensions of their existence…”18
Abuse
The Commission defines this word as an “unjust use of power of a sexual nature causing harm to the person who suffers it.”19
Medical Vocabulary
Terms that have been used to identify disorders of which T. Philippe may have experienced:
delirium of the mystical-religious type of reforming paranoia
He is also described as a “dangerous patient,” mentioned with his “power of lying.”20
Later on the report (parts 5 and 6) will delve into speculation on the psychic development of Vanier.
Religious Vocabulary
Those close T. Philippe spoke of:21
the “quietism” of T. Philippe
the “sect” of L’Eau Vive
the “seduction” by T. Philippe
his “heresy”
his “false mysticism”
the “fanaticism” of the “cult”
“imprudences” that came from an “inner inspirations”
T. Philippe wrote that the Blessed Virgin Mary was asking him to do these things and that he “had to follow the inner inspiration.”22
“visions” and “private revelations”
“mystique”
this mysticism comes from the idea that T. Philippe had that Jesus and Mary were involved in an incestuous relationship with one another not only here on Earth, but in Heaven as well.
The Subject of “The Divine Games of Love” - Without Any Understatement
Trigger warning - sexual abuse, incest, abortion.
St. John of the Cross wrote of “divine games of love” in his book, The Living Flame of Love, a phrase “corrupted” by T. Philippe when referring to his crimes.23 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith defines the charges against him as “'serious sexual abuse with adult women, involving the sacrament of penance,24 and false mysticism to justify such acts.”25 These acts included “sexual abuse, absolution of accomplices,26 incestuous relations with his sister, abortion, sexual relations with others, etc."27
Walking in T. Philippe’s footsteps, Vanier had “intimate relationships…with adult women” who describe themselves as being “victims or survivors of abusive relationships” or “as partners in relationships that are certainly transgressive from the point of view of ordinary ecclesial and social norms, but fulfilling affectively, spiritually, and sexually.”28 As we will see later on in the report, Vanier did not engage in abuse of women to the same degree as did T. Philippe, but Vanier did abuse women with whom he had been in intimate relationships. Few women who had this intimacy with Vanier stated that they found their relationship with him sexually and spiritually “fulfilling,” but recognized that this relationship would be seen as transgressive from a social and ecclesial perspective.
Jean Vanier addressed the topic of sexuality often in his works and lectures,29 thinking of himself as a “sage.” And yet he writes of “confusion” regarding sexuality. The Commission makes the distinction that this confusion does not relate to “pedophilia or the sexual abuse of disabled people” or “to homosexuality,” although there has been public debate based on one testimony of a possible homosexual relationship between T. Philippe and Vanier.30 All victims or survivors that have been identified are adult women.
The report states that the Commission observes that “in all the sources - except those of the (Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) - a certain art in not naming what is strictly sexual and keeping the ‘modesty’ required on these ‘serious subjects.’” This is indicative of T. Philippe’s insistence on silence from his victims/survivors. The Commission also says that “one never finds an obscene word” written by either T. Philippe or Vanier. They did not name any sexual acts that they committed, rather referring to them with chastity as “things” or circumlocute with ellipses or Latin translations.
Light in Darkness - My Thoughts
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “What you’ve said in the dark will be heard in the light of day…”31 What has been done by T. Philippe and Jean Vanier in the darkness and has been kept in darkness for so long as been brought to the light by brave women who have given voice to their abuse. It is tempting to read through this report and despair because of these evils, but it is important to hold to holy hope by seeking out what is good. The only way out of the night is to seek rays of light from Resurrection morning.
There is light in the quote from Archbishop d’Ornellas’ letter to Fr. Marcovits. He shows much sensitivity to those who have been abused and a desire to alleviate their pain. He recognized that they had been harmed by persons who represented the Church in the name of the Church and that they needed comfort from the Church. So many leaders in the Church and L’Arche turned a blind eye to the suffering of the victims/survivors who came forward. It is refreshing to see leaders who do what is right, not only in investigating and reporting abuse but giving comfort to the afflicted.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us.
Our Lady, Consolation of the Afflicted, pray for us.
St. John the Baptist, pray for us.
November 18th, 2014
dated February 18th, 2015
The abbreviation “T. Philippe” will be used throughout this article and the rest of the substack to refer to Thomas Philippe, particularly to differentiate him from others with the same last name who will appear late. Jean Vanier will be abbreviated to Vanier in this article and others for brevity, although the report does abbreviate his name to J. Vanier.
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The report includes a footnote that makes the distinction that Cardinal Philippe does not have family ties to Thomas or Marie-Dominique Philippe
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not for all
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Letter from T. Philippe to the Master General of the Order, March 27, 1952.
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This sacrament is colloquially known as “Confession.”
Letter to L’Arche International, December 7th, 2019.
In the Catholic Church, a priest cannot absolve the sins of a person with whom they have been accomplices in sin or crime. For example, if a priest and a person commit a murder together, the accomplice cannot go to Confession with the priest with whom they have committed the murder.
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I recall being shocked upon finding a copy of Vanier’s book on sexuality, Man and Woman God Made Them, in the basement of one of the L’Arche houses.
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Luke 12:3, The Gospels: A New Translation by Sarah Ruden
It had escaped me that enough was known that warranted further scrutiny so early on in L'Arche.
Philippe having a disorder is something i'm hearing for the first time. Im intrigued to hear more.