Reconciling with the French Catholic Church Cases: I've Noticed a Pattern

In October of this year, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church released a 2,500 page report investigating the French Catholic Church. The inquiry estimated that 216,000 minors in France, mainly boys aged 10-13, were victims of sexual abuse by clergy members since 1970. The number jumps to 330,000 victims when including minors abused by those affiliated with the Catholic Church, such as Catholic school staff or Boy Scout organizers. I was in shock when I heard these numbers; it has been hard for me to even fathom an accusation of this scale involving such a prestigious institution.

These alarming estimates have forced the Catholic Church in France to grapple with their history, deal with accountability, and work towards remedying the structure and system that led to this tragedy. At first glance, I was really hopeful to see the Church acknowledging and reconciling their past; it is the first step towards some sort of justice. However, I wanted to take a deeper look into the implications of this case. Currently, I have been blindly expecting to see justice and accountability, but what will actually happen in the coming months?

When I first found out about this story, I was not even aware that the Church was being investigated. The Independent Commission was formed in February of 2019, when the Bishops of France decided to create a separate body to shed light on the Church’s past. It has been known that sexual misconduct occurred in the Church, but the extent of abuse has never been properly examined. Jean-Marc Sauvé, the chair of the commission, selected 21 experts, including sociologists, historians, theologians, jurists, and psychologists, to investigate the Church, its archives, and other sources in order to create the most comprehensive account of the scope of sexual abuse by French clergy. The mission of the commission is to give space for victim’s voices and prevent recurrence of these unacceptable events. Sauvé said that of the victims who submitted testimonies to this investigation, “not only did they give a quantitative and qualitative account of the scope of sexual violence, they tried to understand where it came from — the institutional mechanisms.”

This abuse scandal was so striking to me because it covered the Church in a shroud of sin, almost to the point that it was paradoxical. It was confusing to see an institution so pious be secretly sacrilegious. It forced both the faithful and non-religious to question the people and institutions that we put our trust in.

Commission President Jean-Marc Sauvé discussing the report this past October in Paris. *THOMAS COEX/ASSOCIATED PRESS*

I’ve noticed a pattern where institutions who have immense power seem to have the ability to hide their corruption and operate beneath the law, simply because society grants them an inherent trust. We have seen this in certain government administrations, large corporations like Facebook, and now the church. Priests, presidents, and CEOs form a barrier of protection around themselves. They have a perceived purity which exempts them from societal scrutiny. Their moral compass is rarely questioned because they indoctrinate us to think that they are already sensible and trustworthy. However, this church scandal has forced many to reconcile with the fact that the sanctity of the church is not enough to exempt them from wrongdoing and punishment. The reverence of clergy cannot overshadow their crimes to over 200,000 victims over the past seven decades. The New York Times reported that this scandal has “shaken the nation and what was once a pillar of French society,” – this is especially shocking in a country where the church's power and influence is almost as prominent as the state.

Though it is easy to disregard these accusations and return to the belief that no clergy member would ever commit a sin so unethical, we cannot forget that sexual violence perpetrators can be anyone, regardless of their status in society.

How was this tolerated in such a virtuous institution that teaches values of compassion, respect, and love? I suppose these values can be twisted to convince and groom a child that their abuse is okay since they are conditioned to respect their elders and devote themselves to the church and their members. Notably, the principle of forgiveness is typically indoctrinated into children raised within the Catholic religion. It is understandable then that morality-based teachings like these could have been easily twisted to manipulate a victim into forgiving their abuser rather than accusing them. Sadly, many young victims don’t even realize they were abused until they are old enough to understand what abuse is. This could explain why these cases have only come to the light now.

A protestor against the visit of Pope Francis in Dublin, Ireland. *SHUTTERSTOCK*

Oliver Savignac, a survivor who was sexually abused by a priest in 1993 when he was 13 years old, said that the Church nurtured a culture of silence “because there are strong questions of loyalty — loyalty to the priest, and loyalty to the bishop.” Fear of excommunication and loyalty is often at the root of sexual and gender based violence cases, where a victim feels pressured to adhere to the expectations of someone they admire or respect, and can therefore be manipulated.

Even though uncovering these voices and stories is a huge step towards justice, I fear that this is where the accountability will stop, given the history that perpetrators rarely receive punishment at all for their abuse. It is one thing for a story to be recognized, but it is another for justice to be served. An example of perpetrators receiving little punishment for their abuse is the case of Brock Turner, the student who raped an unconscious girl behind a dumpster at Stanford University. Turner served only three of his six-month sentence for raping a women who was physically unable to give consent and who is now traumatized for life. This extremely lenient sentence, which many attribute to Turner’s status as a white, male, student athlete at an elite sports school, shows how those with certain social statuses simply evade the law and escape accountability. It perpetuates the feelings that victims often face, that they have nowhere to turn or that their cases won’t be handled with the proper urgency or severity. Honestly, I fear that the French Catholic Church scandal will be just another instance underscoring this tragic and broken system.

In the Brock Turner case, his probation officer, Monica Lassettre, specifically cited Turner’s youth and lack of criminal history when advocating for his lenient sentence. In other words, Lassettre was using his purity to exempt him from the consequences of his unacceptable actions. When considering white male priests and clergy members, their purity seems like a blanket status that will save them from punishment as well. Like Savignac said, there is a culture of loyalty which protects the clergy. We are accustomed to letting one’s sanctity exempt them from any kind of severe criminal charge. However, we cannot let one’s social status and perceived purity, whether it be due to their youth or religiosity, exempt them from the punishments of committing sexual assault.

An onlooker in the Cathedral of Lucon, France, reacts to a tribute to the child victims of sexual abuse by priests. *LOIC VENANCE/AFP*

Since the commission’s report only provides an estimate for the number of victims in France since 1970, I can only imagine how much the number will exponentially grow if we include other countries and time periods. Sexual violence can have a multitude of effects on a victim, making it that much more difficult to even perceive the scope of this abuse by the Church.

This scandal has been a wake-up call to society. We cannot make assumptions about the goodness of anyone, whether they are a pastor or a student-athlete. My biggest hope is that the French Catholic Church will continue to be held accountable and justice will go further than just an acknowledgement of the Church’s past. The rarity of perpetrators ever receiving appropriate punishment makes me skeptical that it will happen now. The unfortunate reality we currently live in is that abusers and institutions can escape being punished because of a collective fear of speaking out among victims, as well as systemic factors like manipulation by authorities and maintenance of reputation. This encourages a culture of silence and power tripping.

What is different about the French Catholic Church case? I am hopeful that this is the case that will turn around the status quo of perpetrators and corrupt institutions running free, but I just don’t know.