An extended review of a 2024 book edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Hans S. Reinders
Note: This article deals with themes of violence and abuse against women. Our print issue contains a shorter version of this review. Faith Today welcomes your thoughts on any of our reviews. We also welcome suggestions of other Canadian Christian books to review: Contact us.
Cascade Books, 2024. 167 pages. $35 (e-book $10)
Jean Vanier is the son of George Vanier, Canadian statesman and Governor General of Canada (1959-1967). Jean Vanier’s acclaim came as an advocate for persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. He was the founder of L’Arche, where adults with and without intellectual disabilities build community by living and working together.
When he died at the age of 90 Jean Vanier was one of “12 remarkable Canadians” who died in 2019 (The Globe and Mail). He was hailed as a “Canadian champion” (CBC, Global News), a “Catholic hero” (National Post), and a “Savior of people on the margins” (The New York Times).
Seven months later (February 2020) L’Arche International released a report. Six women (none connected to L’Arche) had been sexually abused by Vanier. A second investigative report (January, 2023) expanded his accountability to include the abuse of 25 women (none connected to L’Arche and none with intellectual disabilities) over a span of 70 years. The headlines were vastly different.
Until his death Vanier had been part of a small group, a group that the Catholic church had banned in 1956, that involved an “erotic mystical practice of spiritual guidance.”
Now what for L’Arche? Now what for those who have read any of Vanier’s 30 books? Do I throw them out? Do I edit the sermon quotes?
Today L’Arche International is comprised of nearly 160 communities, active in 37 countries. In Canada L’Arche has 30 communities across nine provinces. The first L’Arche community was formed by Vanier in Trosly-Breuil, France in 1964. The second one was Daybreak in Richmond Hill, Ont., in 1969.
The authors, like L’Arche, represent an international spectrum. Four are women. Seven are men. Two of the women have children with disabilities. Some of the authors were directly involved with L’Arche, others more arms length. Two of the contributors reside in Canada: Keith Dow, manager of organizational and spiritual life with Karis Disability Services (formerly Christian Horizons), and Jason R. Greig, lecturer in disability studies and philosophy at Kings University College, London, Ont. All the writers have backgrounds in disability studies, theology and ethics.
Each author takes Vanier’s betrayal as a personal “gut punch.” They are trying to make sense of this for themselves, and for L’Arche. They do not mince words about Vanier’s conduct: “horrific,” “devious,” “evil,” “deplorable.”
The authors avoid any simplistic account of Vanier’s betrayal of L’Arche and of “a truly Christian existence that he was believed to embody.” The conundrum is that someone acclaimed as a “living saint” is found to be a sexual predator. “How could someone who eloquently put into words the dynamics of human vulnerability and interdependence … have engaged for so many years in sexual abuse and spiritual manipulation?”
Our church landscape is regularly littered with such revelations. We ask similar questions: “How did I miss it?” “What do I do now with this person and his work?”
Two things drew me to this book. I had read a couple of Vanier’s books. I am interested in disability studies. This is an insightful read. The contributors are judicious regarding the details of Vanier’s abuse. They wrestle with their blind spots. They have read each other’s contributions to the book, minimizing redundancy and prompting further reading.
The Betrayal of Witness reads like case study notes from sensitive, knowledgeable people each bringing a different perspective. That range broadens the benefits of the book. It offers insights on care-givers (“carers” in L’Arche terminology) and burnout; on how being in community with vulnerable people needs to be a give-and-receive relationship; on the value of hindsight in re-reading a person’s words with this new (sexual violence) context. There are aspects that are common in many people’s spiritual journeys including the reality of self-deception and the trappings of Christian celebrity syndrome.
An analysis of John 4, a favourite text of Vanier’s, is worth the price of the book in itself. Vanier’s (not uncommon) interpretive lens is shown to be highly prejudicial toward women. This dovetails with an analysis of the Parable of the Talents. Here Vanier is shown to be like the servant who buries his treasure.
The book walks a delicate tightrope: justice and mercy, sin and forgiveness, lament and hope. Good and evil is illustrated with references as divergent as Abraham, Anakin Skywalker and Gollum.
The authors remind L’Arche (and us) that denial and cancellation are not healthy options. Crisis can be a call to a new maturity. Fortunately L’Arche has been doing that and along the way has “developed into something quite different from what Vanier intended.”
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