A commission that is ready to listen and to act
In 2015 the Brothers of St John set up a commission to receive any report of abuse involving a Brother of Saint John and determine the appropriate action to be taken. The commission was initially made up of a psychologist, a jurist and brothers from the community. In 2019 the commission was expanded to include a psychologist, a therapist, two jurists (one of whom is the president of the commission), two lay people (one of whom is independent of the community) and two brothers from the community (neither of whom belong to the government of the Congregation).
To report a case of sexual abuse to the commission, you can contact it directly by sending an email to: sos.abus@stjean.com
We also encourage you to report your case to the appropriate legal authorities.
If your case involves the sexual abuse of a minor, it must be reported to the police or Public Prosecutor / District Attorney.
Following cases of abuse involving brothers from our community, the brothers’ governing body apologised to victims, asking forgiveness for the trauma they suffered at the hands of the perpetrators and for the inadequate responses and decisions made in the past. The painful process of coming to terms with these events led the Brothers of Saint John to implement a series of measures to prevent and deal with situations of abuse. One of these measures has been to facilitate the reception of reports of abuse through the SOS Abuse Commission.
During the first session of the General Chapter, held from April 30 to May 10, 2019, the first report of the SOS Abuse Commission was given to the Brothers of the Chapter, after which it was given to all the Brothers of the community. In a statement given by our Prior General, Brother François-Xavier, he said: “This report, which we wanted to be presented at our General Chapter, is both proof of the wretched evil that has impacted our community and proof of our determination to root out the evil. On behalf of all Brothers of Saint John and as newly-elected Prior General, I would like to apologize to all who were harmed by our founder or by a Brother”. At the close of the chapter, the capitulants wanted to express their thoughts through a message sent to the Brothers and Sisters, the oblates and friends of the community. It is available to read here. Following the second session of the General Chapter, which took place from October 22 to November 1, 2019, the capitular brothers once again made a statement on the Congregation’s relationship to its founder and on the abuse committed in the community. This final message, as well as a letter sent by Archbishop Carballo, Secretary for Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in Rome, can be found here.
The Brothers of Saint John are fully determined to implement everything possible to prevent all types of abuse.
Independent Commission for Recognition and Reparation (CRR)
On 19 November 2021, CORREF (The Conference of Male and Female Religious of France) unanimously voted to create an independent commission for the victims of sexual abuse committed by clergy. The commission was composed of a president, Antoine Garapon, former magistrate and former member of CIASE (Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church), a managing director, and a team of commissioners with multidisciplinary skills.
The CRR has been given four missions:
– To provide every victim of a member of a religious institution with a space for listening, dialogue, and recognition.
– To ensure a process of reparation: to offer a process of mediation, or even adjudication, with the institute in question.
– To create an archive, resource, and research centre.
– To raise awareness about sexual abuse committed within the Church in order to contribute to its prevention.
On February 10, 2023, the three institutes of the Family of Saint John (Brothers of Saint John, Apostolic Sisters of Saint John and Contemplative Sisters of Saint John) signed an agreement for working guidelines and collaboration with the CRR, making specific provisions for monthly meetings between the commission and the three Priors General.
Delve a little deeper
What are the Brothers of Saint John doing to combat abuse?