Report on Jean Vanier: Vanier Founded L'Arche "Primarily as a Cover for a Secretive Religious Sect with Exploitative 'Mystical-Sexual' Beliefs and Practices"

Photo of Jean Vanier by Kotukaran, at Wikimedia Commons

On 30 January, a study commission convoked by L'Arche International to look into the question of reports of sexual abuse of vulnerable women by L'Arche issued its report. Vanier founded L'Arche as a ministry supporting physically and mentally challenged people. The report produced by an interdisciplinary group of French academics after lengthy probing and study of the evidence, found the following, as Michael Atencio reports:

Telling Truth about Benedict's Legacy re: Clerical Sexual Abuse of Minors, and Commentary on Cardinal Pell's Legacy re: Abuse

Adam Horowitz offers one of the best pieces of commentary I've seen on how far too many Catholic journalists and academics have chosen to falsify the legacy of Pope Benedict vis-a-vis the abuse crisis, by claiming that he was somehow a champion of addressing the problem of clerical sexual abuse of minors — when he decidedly was not. 

Recent Religion + Politics Commentary: "Pro-Life" Movement, Christian Nationalism, Southern Baptists and United Methodists, Leonard Leo and New USCCB President

Here are some valuable articles I've read in the past week or two about religion and politics and their intersection:

More Commentary from French Catholics about Abuse Story in French Church: "What we are discovering today – with horror – is a twisted system"

Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, photo by Tom S., Wikimedia Commons

As a follow-up to my two previous postings (here and here) about the shocking revelations now breaking in the French Catholic church, indicating that at least 11 bishops, some retired and some still presiding over dioceses, have been credibly accused of having molested minors, and that a French cardinal admits having abused a 14-year-old girl when he was a parish priest, more reactions from French Catholics:

Weekly News Roundup by Mark Wingfield of Baptist News Global: "What kind of Christian posts a meme on social media that mocks Paul Pelosi after he was violently attacked?"

Hammer photo uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by Malene Thyssen

Each Friday, Mark Wingfield, editor of Baptist News Global, sends a Friday roundup by email to those on the BNC mailing list. There's not an online link to this weekly roundup, so I can't offer you a link. I would, however, like to share some of Mark Wingfield's commentary from this week's roundup email (boldfacing emphasis is in original):

The Case Died with Her: Documentary about Emilie Morris of St. Louis and Her Claim of Abuse Against Her High-School Coach

For those concerned about sexual abuse and exploitation of minors by adult authority figures, and about the difficulties that how those blowing the whistle on their abuse usually face when they go public, I'd like to note an upcoming televised documentary. On December 6 at 7 P.M. EST, 6 P.M. CST, the Oxygen network will be airing a program called The Case Died with Her.

Jeff Altaras, "Evil Thrives When Good People Remain Silent": Discussion of Sexual Abuse in the Mennonite Context

I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share with Bilgrimage readers a fine statement by Jeff Altaras, commenting on the response of some members of the Canadian Mennonite community to the recent revokation of credentials for John D. Rempel by the Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. Rempel served as chaplain, residence director, and adjunct professor at Conrad Grebel Univcersity in Waterloo, Ontario, from 1973 to 1989. The action taken by Mennonite Church Eastern Canada was in response to multiple allegations of sexual abuse substantiated by the church.

Jeff is responding, in particular, to defenses/excuses of Rempel by some Canadian Mennonites who, as he proposes, reflect old world cronyism and denial as they seek to offer words of days gone by to address a situation in which the balance of justice increasingly falls heavily on the side of victims of sexual abuse and not perpetrators.

Because the kinds of excuses offered for perpetrators against the claims of victims are not confined to the Mennonite context, but can also be found in other contexts including the Catholic one, I find Jeff's statement valuable and want to share it with you. What follows is Jeff Altaras's essay: 

David Clohessy of SNAP Speaking Outside Southern Baptist Convention, Birmingham, Alabama, June 2019: How to Effect Real Change with Churches and Abuse

I'd like to share with readers a presentation that David Clohessy of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) made in June 2019 when the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. I'm grateful to David for permitting me to share it here, and to Carol Yeager of SNAP in North Carolina for sharing this video with me. 

German Catholic Bishops on Dismal Failure of Predecessors in Nazi Period; Anne Barrett Doyle on Anniversary of Vos Estis Lux Mundi

Writing in The Tablet yesterday, Christa Pongratz-Lippit reports on an in-depth study the German Catholic bishops recently commissioned in preparation for the 75th anniversary of World War II. The study, which is entitled in English "German Bishops During World War II," focuses on the role of the German bishops during the Nazi period. I'm highlighting this article as a footnote to my recent discussion of Susan Neiman's book Learning from the Germans.

Ruth Krall, "A Sin or a Crime?"

David Stoltzfus Smucker (age 75) wheeled into court in Lancaster, PA, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 24 Jan. 2020

I'm happy to share today a recent essay by Ruth Krall that packs a lot of valuable information and theological reflection into a small space. Though it's specifically focused on questions about how abuse of vulnerable people is handled in her own religious community of origin, it offers a valuable lens through with those studying abuse in other religious or institutional settings can also look. Ruth writes:

Sentence: 38-76 years of imprisonment: This means that Smucker will likely die in jail.  The crime: 20 felony counts for sexually molesting children, i.e., rape, of his grandchildren.

Ruth Krall, A Brief Afterword to "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice"

Healthcare Workers in Ebola Protective Gear (i)

Ruth Krall has generously prepared a brief afterword to her six-part series of essays entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." I've published those six essays in installments at Bilgrimage, and at the end of this posting, will provide links to the entire series. The basic premise of Ruth's series of essays is that sexual abuse of vulnerable people by leaders is an endemic problem in religious groups across the globe, and, as she states in the afterword below, "Until the world community learns how to accurately assess this world public health/community mental health phenomenon of clergy sexual abuse of the powerless and the vulnerable, the problem will continue to proliferate." Ruth's essay follows:

Ruth Krall, Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons (2)

Theodore Rombouts, (1597-1617), "Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple"

The essay below is the second installment of Ruth Krall's essay "Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons." Part one was published previously. In this essay, which is the sixth of a series of essays Ruth has entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice," whose premise is (to quote the essay below), "Studies of sexual violence inside our denominational homes require new vocabularies and new conceptual models." 

In this current essay, Ruth argues, "If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to repeatedly enable sexual abuse of that same child." But also: "Remember this: it takes only one of us to be a healer."

The continuation of Ruth's essay on moral corruption in the religious commons follows (note that endnote numbers begin at xx because this is the second part of an essay whose first part has previously been published):

Ruth Krall, Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons (1)

Theodore Rombouts, (1597-1617), "Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple" (i)

My house shall be called a house of prayer

But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves.
(Mathew 21: 13, Good News Translation)

This essay is the sixth in a series of essays Ruth Krall has generously offered us on Bilgrimage, under the series title "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." This link will point you to links to each previous essay in the series. In her "Recapitulation" series, Ruth addresses what she sees as the he endemic nature of sexual abuse of followers in religious contexts and contexts offering spiritual guidance. From the outset, Ruth's latest essay on moral corruption in the religious commons announces its theme:

If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to repeatedly enable sexual abuse of that same child. This is so whether she lives inside secular society or he lives inside a deeply pious religious and worshipping community.

Ruth's essay "Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons" follows. Because the essay is rich and long, I'll be sharing it in several installments, of which this is the first:

Ruth Krall, Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems

Ebola: Transporting a Sick Child to a Care Facility (1)

The essay by Ruth Krall that follows below is the fourth in a series of essays entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice," which I've had the honor to publish on Bilgrimage in the past weeks. The first essay in this series appeared in two installments, here and here. The second appeared in another two installments, here and here. The third essay is here. As Ruth's introduction to the essay below notes, it follows on her three preceding essays, which hypothesize the endemic natural of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers by asking what might be the role played by various ideologies in establishing institutional climates that faciliate abuse and then cover it up. As with some of Ruth's previous essays in this series, I'm posting this one in two parts: part one is below.

Ruth Krall, Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach (Part 2)

Transferring an Ebola Patient for Transport to a Care Facility 

Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach

Ruth Elizabeth Krall, MSN, PhD

This is a continuation of an essay by Ruth Krall, the first half of which was posted a few days ago.  As that previous posting noted, this essay, entitled "Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach," continues Ruth's analysis of religious leader sexual abuse of vulnerable individuals from the standpoint of public health. It proposes that "any effort to eliminate sexual abuse as a public health problem must, therefore, be both a national and an international effort. It must also be pan-denominational — reaching into multiple religious communities." Here's the second half of Ruth's outstanding essay — note that footnote numbers begin in medias res because this part of Ruth's essay links to the part previously posted: 

Abuse Whistleblower Rachael Denhollander on Why Survivors Know How Extensive Abuse Is in Southern Baptist Churches

With nearly 15 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Now it's facing a reckoning over sexual abuse. @R_Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, joins @JudyWoodruff in studio. pic.twitter.com/uKPPRhbZ9O

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 12, 2019

Rachael Denhollander was a courageous whistleblower in the case of Larry Nassar, who sexually assaulted her at age 15. When she came forward with her claims about Nassar, Immanuel Baptist, the church to which she and her husband Jacob Denhollander (a Southern Baptist seminary student)  belonged, refused to support her. They then left that church and joined another.

Ruth Krall, Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking (Part 2)

This posting is a continuation of an essay by Ruth Krall, the first part of which I posted several days ago. As that previous posting notes, Ruth's essay, entitled "Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking," invites readers to re-think how we've come to view the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people in religious contexts. Ruth urges us to consider applying terms and concepts from the realm of public health to this phenomenon. Is this abuse an epidemic in religious contexts today? Is it endemic in religious structures? Is it pandemic?

Because the essay belows continues (and links to) the first part published previously, the endnotes begin at xvi rather than 1. Here's the second part of Ruth's valuable essay:

Ruth Krall, Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking

Ebola Virus Isolation Unit — A Visual Metaphor to Ponder (i)

I'm very pleased to be able to share once again an outstanding essay by Ruth Krall. In this essay about re-thinking how we've come to view the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people in religious contexts, Ruth urges us to consider applying terms and concepts from the realm of public health. Is this abuse an epidemic in religious contexts today? Is it endemic in religious structures? Is it pandemic? Because Ruth's essay is dense and long, I've broken the essay into two parts. The second part will follow in a day or so, and will link to this first half. Here's Ruth's essay:

Ruth Krall, "In a Roman Catholic Voice: Clergy and Religious Leader Sexual Abuse of the Laity — A Study Bibliography of Resources" (2)

As I stated yesterday in introducing this two-part posting in which Ruth Krall offers us a valuable new resource for studying sexual abuse of minors in religious settings, all of us concerned with this issue owe Ruth a debt of immense gratitude for her generosity. She has made available to us resources that reflect her years of intensive study of the topic of sexual violence, rape, and abuse of minors in religious settings. What follows is the bibliography of resources Ruth is offering with this latest contribution to this research field; yesterday's posting featured Ruth's introductory essay for this important resource.

Ruth Krall, "In a Roman Catholic Voice: Clergy and Religious Leader Sexual Abuse of the Laity — A Study Bibliography of Resources"

L'Osservatore Romano/AP Pool Photo, BXVI's 65th anniversary of ordination, 28 June 2016
Pope Francis (i) with Pope Emeritus Benedict (ii)

All of us seeking to understand and deal with the abuse of vulnerable people within religious communities owe a deep debt of gratitude to Ruth Krall. In one powerful essay after another, she has unpacked years of her research in this field, making insights and titles available to a wider community. Over the course of several years, Ruth has been producing extensive annotated bibliographies reflecting her years of study in this field. What follows is Ruth's latest contribution to the documentation of abuse in religious communities, of studies of this abuse and its roots, and of resources for combating such abuse. The essay below is Ruth's preface to the study bibliography of resources she is providing with this new document. The bibliography itself will follow in a subsequent posting: