French religious unite to combat sexual abuse

By Bruno Bouvet
La Croix International
November 14, 2018

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Following directly from measures outlined by the French bishops in the conclusion of their autumn plenary assembly in Lourdes, representatives of men and women religious have confirmed their engagement in the fight against sexual abuse.

Some 120 leaders of French religious communities, both apostolic and monastic, gathered June 11 for a meeting in Paris under the banner of “Sexual abuse and pedophilia” organized by the Conference of Men and Women Religious in France (CORREF).

Participants agreed that the gathering was highly important and timely, especially since it included personal accounts from three victims of sexual abuse.

This took the same format as that adopted for the gathering held on Nov. 3 in Lourdes by the French Bishops Conference.

It stands as a clear message that France’s religious community is committed to the process initiated ten days earlier by the bishops to create an independent commission investigating cases of sexual abuse in the Church from the 1950s.

CORREF’s general assembly began on Nov. 10 in Lourdes and on Nov. 12 members voted to confirm their participation in the commission and its inquiry.

The day before, Pascal Roland, president of the Bishops’ Commission for Consecrated Life, and Eudist Father Pierre-Yves Pecqueux, assistant general secretary of the bishops’ conference, presented the process to be adopted by the bishops and outlined the commission’s main principles.

Sister Véronique Margron, president of CORREF described the atmosphere:

“The mood was very grave, especially since there were victims of abuse among us. Important issues were discussed including questions raised by leaders of international congregations who wanted to know what can be done to break the code of silence in certain areas of Africa, Asia and India.”

A second resolution was adopted–also by secret ballot–to ratify CORREF’s approach and to open new avenues of investigation and action.

Among the main topics raised were: the future of members of the clergy who had perpetrated abuse and had served their sentences or were awaiting trial; initial and ongoing training to prevent sexual abuse; discussions about protocols to protect minors and about institute members’ displacements and travel.

Despite the demonstration of the clergy’s determination, there are still many questions to tackle.

How will communities go about opening up their archives? What exactly will be looked for in them, and what methodology will be used? What will be done in the absence of written testimony? How will compensation of victims be calculated? How will this be reflected in a search for truth?

To examine these questions from all sides, work groups and dedicated study days have been organized. These will help inform the decisions to be made at an intermediary CORREF general assembly in 2019.

Members can count on the collective confidence and will of their peers. Both resolutions were voted by 99 percent of participants.