Jean Vanier, the deceased founder of the L’Arche organisation which supports people with developmental disabilities in communities around the world, engaged in “manipulative sexual relationships” with at least six adult women, according to an internally commissioned report.
The report was based on an investigation carried out by independent UK consultancy GCPS at the behest of L’Arche International who commissioned the inquiry last year. A statement from L’Arche international released on Saturday said the investigators had received “credible” evidence from six women that during the period between 1970 and 2005, Vanier had initiated sexual relations with them – “usually in the context of spiritual accompaniment” – in relationships it characterised as “manipulative” and “emotionally abusive”.
It found these relationships “had a significant negative impact on their personal lives and subsequent relationships” and were “indicative of a deep psychological and spiritual hold Jean Vanier had on these women”. It said they confirmed his adoption of some of “deviant theories and practices” of Fr Thomas Philippe, a man who Vanier described as his “spiritual father” and who Vanier said had called him to found L’Arche.
According to L’Arche, the inquiry “made no suggestion that Jean Vanier had inappropriate relationships with people with intellectual disabilities”.
Vanier died at the age of 90 last May.
In a letter sent on Saturday to the Federation of L’Arche Communities, which operates in 38 countries worldwide, the Leaders of L’Arche International – Stephan Posner and Stacy Cates Carney – said they were “shocked by these discoveries and unreservedly condemn these actions, which are in total contradiction with the values Jean Vanier otherwise stood for”.
“They are incompatible with the basic rules of respect and dignity of persons, and contrary to the fundamental principles on which L’Arche is based…” they wrote, adding that they recognised the “courage and suffering of these women, and of any others who may not have spoken up”.
The Leaders said that while the “considerable good” Vanier did throughout his life was not in question, “we will nevertheless have to mourn a certain image we may have had of Jean and of the origins of L’Arche.”
“Whatever Jean Vanier understood or believed about these relationships or the different perceptions the women who provided testimony had of them, the inquiry has established that some of the women were deeply harmed by these events and experienced long-term negative impacts.”
L’Arche International said it has submitted GCPS’ final report to the Independent Church Sexual Abuse Commission in France, which is responsible for investigating abuses within the church in France.
Vanier, who was unmarried, was awarded the 2015 Templeton Prize for spiritual work, and also received France’s Legion of Honor. A former Canadian naval officer, he founded the Catholic-inspired organisation, L’Arche, in the 1960s in France.
