Lead story
Jean Vanier Wanted Back on Earth
Volume 34 Issue 1, 2 & 3 | Posted: March 27, 2020
When I contemplate the recent revelations about Jean Vanier, three or four major reform areas come to mind. These include the thwarted reform of Catholic Sexual Teaching; the need for Jungian analysis of the church’s collective psyche; the problem areas covered by the term ‘political correctness’, including that basis for convicting people in the media today; finally the quality and structure of the actual summary reporting issued by L’Arche International.
Catholic Sexual Teaching
My first thoughts go back to 1976 when the Catholic Theological Society of America produced a major volume challenging the basis of Catholic Sexual Teaching in the light of Vatican II, theological developments since the council of 1962-65, and current scientific trends and research; plus the lived experience of Catholic Christians.
When I contemplate the recent revelations about Jean Vanier, three or four major reform areas come to mind. These include the thwarted reform of Catholic Sexual Teaching; the need for Jungian analysis of the church’s collective psyche; the problem areas covered by the term ‘political correctness’, including that basis for convicting people in the media today; finally the quality and structure of the actual summary reporting issued by L’Arche International.
Catholic Sexual Teaching
My first thoughts go back to 1976 when the Catholic Theological Society of America produced a major volume challenging the basis of Catholic Sexual Teaching in the light of Vatican II, theological developments since the council of 1962-65, and current scientific trends and research; plus the lived experience of Catholic Christians.
Fundamentally it would have corrected the medieval concepts that still underlie the Roman Catholic understanding of the purposes of sexuality and gender.
Officially it all seemed to come to nothing as a matter of course. This important work and development was all but entirely discarded by the institutional church even though it was a logical development following upon the crisis precipitated by The Birth Control Encyclical in 1968.
Humanae Vitae disappointed all forward thinking Western Catholics. It proved just the tip of the iceberg, Humanae Vitae catapulted The Universal Catholic church into a massive crisis of confidence and authority which is still pulling it apart.
If it had been heeded and sensibly incorporated into the practice and thinking of the RC Church, perhaps the Jean Vanier situation could very well have been avoided; as well as the overwrought reaction to the recent revelations. As per usual in these times, everything related to gender seems out of balance.
A Special Case of ‘Inflation’
In Vanier’s case, one could not be entirely assured it would have exactly affected him due to the special nature of his family background; and the way he came to be regarded due to the specific cause which consumed his life and personality. As former ICN editor Marnie Butler, who met Jean, described him, Jean was clearly a suffering servant. That is, he embraced that sort of spirituality.
This is not a title that gets a lot of wear today given the excessive antidote to suffering MAiD represents in Canadian society where, as Balfour Mount says, suffering is justified as the reason to eliminate the sufferer.
Jean Vanier’s embrace of a long-suffering ethic and Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day’s ‘Long Loneliness’ seem joined at the hip. He seemed the parallel on the right, to her on the left. No one really can be expected to understand what either of them have been through, the cost and price they paid. Theirs was a heroic dimension which Catholicism and the Gospel can seem to require.
His reputation is certainly paying the price now. Even L’Arche seems to be worried about its very survival.
Last summer The Catholic Worker edition ran an eulogy by Sara Fisher which began: “Beloved Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche and Faith and Light, has entered his heavenly life…the presence of God within Jean was so alive, he embodied such gentleness and passion regarding the common fragility of the need of all humans to be loved.”
On one level Jean was just doing what his Christian duty required, the work he decided he was put here on earth to effect, no matter what the price. The Catholic Christian vocation. But every ideal has its shadow side. The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow, as Jung said.
Obviously if what we are taking at face value is true, the price was too high. His thinking on sexual matters is not hard to recognize if you have any sort of acquaintance with the arcane uses Catholic spirituality has been put to in the name of a radical sexual ethic.
Roman Catholicism represents an unrealistic sexual ethic in its proposed ascetic idealism. (See Paul LeMay’s commentary in the Features section.) The problem is that basic sexual mores have become overspiritualized.
In Jungian terms, Jean Vanier’s inflated imagery as a contemporary saint was transparently asking for an ultimate deflation. This inflation first took place in the Catholic world, then even more decisively in the secular media where he became something of a pet. The media makes you then it breaks you. And all on the basis of what for me, in any sort of close perusal, seems a dubious report.
Summary Conviction
Only a summary of the condemning report has so far been made available by L’Arche International. It would be important to soon see the full report. My sense is there is politics at play which may very well be driven by institutional self concern. No names, no telling details, no contextual analysis (with one exception). It is a very weak and political report. Its purposes seem a bit too transparently self-serving.
On the basis of solicitude for the unnamed victims and selected details of the assaults, this ostensibly great man’s reputation is in tatters. As Bob Dylan sings, “It’s easily done, just pick anyone and pretend that you never have met.”
From a Jungian point of view, Vanier had no where to fall but back down to earth. His image and reputation was so elevated he is wanted back here on earth both for accounting, proper reporting and deflation of the massive psychological inflation he suffered.
Political Correctness
On the same Saturday following the revelations by Ian Brown in the Globe and Mail, I sat in on a panel presentation and discussion on censorship and political correctness. Panelists were theatre types who played out a scenario scripted for the occasion. Their issue was the difficulty knowing what they could present in the way of theatre in the age of a faux political correctness.
I spoke about the censorship by the local Catholic diocese when ICN worked to protect Bishop Remi De Roo’s reputation from an orchestrated discrediting shortly after his retirement in 1999. By way of introduction I gave my impression of the roots of political correctness.
Political correctness as a term is derived from the left where a shared ideology required a consistency of policy. Without a shared ideology, the term is pointless; pointing rather to a subjectively held belief, usually not widely shared, so an hysteria enters into the atmosphere as a false way of defending personal values. It often involves shadow projection of unattended personal limitations i.e. shadow material.
The atmosphere in Canadian society today is charged with such faux political correctness which ordinary people feel obliged to respect as something bona fide and real. That was certainly the tone of discussion at the panel on censorship.
Ian Brown’s article on the basis of sheer confidence in the integrity of the authors of a very limited report is evidence of the takeover by such a blinded fearful mindset.
Report on Pere Thomas
The opening sentence of the report proper reads: “In 2014, the first allegations of sexual abuse by Father Thomas Philippe dating back to the founding of L’Arche until the end of his life, were sent to the leaders of L’Arche International”
The fact of Father Philippe’s reputation and his purported influence on Jean Vanier forms a major part of the February 22nd eleven-page summary report. Nine of the eleven pages mention or are focused on Pere Philippe, including the entirety of pages 7 to 11.
One is tempted to say only half jokingly that it is a report on Thomas Philippe with occasional reference to someone named Jean Vanier. Vanier is depicted as overly influenced and easily led.
Page six is as close as it gets to statements by the complainants.
“All alleged victims described their own vulnerability at the time of the events, sometimes coming from difficult family backgrounds or looking for a father figure, or looking for admiration and recognition..They also describe significant barriers to raising these issues, given the charismatic personality of Jean Vanier and his predominant position within L’Arche.
“The following quotes are taken from the inquiry describing Jean Vanier’s behaviour (names and dates were not provided to prevent potential identification):
– “I was in an inappropriate sexual relationship with Jean Vanier. Was I consenting? I think at the beginning yes, but as time went on, the more I believe I was not consenting…”
As for Pere Thomas’ misdemeanours, it is as though this explained anything. Pere Thomas was convicted by Rome and his order in the 1950s. Jean could make his own decisions. It is as though L’Arche is pulling its punches by intimating it may not be all Jean’s fault. They have to make up their minds. Talk about damning with faint praise. It is just another piece of evidence of how weak this report is as a basis for such revelations.
I have no axe to grind with L’Arche and I am sure they were trying to do the right thing but if Jean were alive and took them to court over this thing, they would have to produce a lot more convincing details. They should present the whole report, names and all. Letting the chips fall where they may is a cliche that comes to mind.
The courage of one’s convictions was an expression bandied about in my Catholic family of upbringing. Jean Vanier’s name and work as a Canadian legacy are at risk, including the organization that is left to carry it on. It is no time to play fast and loose with the facts of the case.
I passed the report around to people associated with ICN to get their reaction. One board member Paul Lemay of Vancouver provided a start to the tight analysis and reasoning the revelations require. They are presented on page six.
The shock and awe effect does not excuse those concerned from delving into the deeper realities of this situation. Otherwise history may very well judge that Vanier’s legacy was dismantled on too flimsy a basis.