Fractured face of Benedictine life after the Council

Benedictine nuns of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre have been found to be adrift

The Benedictine nuns of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre communicate, acknowledging spiritual abuses within their congregation - notably as a result of a former superior who was removed in 2013 - and a work undertaken to end the derivatives and rebuild the congregation after two apostolic visits in 2004 and 2012:

"After many years of broken ties with the Institute of the Benedictine Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre (BSCM), several outgoing sisters have resumed contact with the current prioress general.

On 11 and 12 February 2023, a beginning of a re-reading of the past of the Institute was undertaken between the BSCM and several of the sisters who had left. Supported by oral and written testimonies, this meeting made it possible to put into common words a whole system of control, with serious and lasting consequences, put in place over several decades by the authority of the time. At the end of this weekend, by common agreement and in a renewed dialogue, it was decided to publish an official statement acknowledging the abuses suffered within the BSCM.

All those who associate themselves with this declaration are crushed by the extent of the suffering they have undergone for so many years: spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience, abuse of power and authority, separation of the sisters from their family and their spiritual referent, moral and physical violence, threats, systematic lies, calumnies, a climate of fear and manipulation, humiliation, deprivation of liberty, lack of vocational discernment...

These long-awaited public exposures have aroused indignation, anger, and pain. The belated nature of this declaration, almost 20 years after the conclusions of the 2004 apostolic visit, and 10 years after those of 2012, shows the extent, power and depth of the hold. The present leaders of the Institute strongly deplore this perversion of religious life during these years of domination, as well as all the violence suffered and endured by all of them, which has caused serious trauma, the effects of which are still felt by some today. These abuses caused many sisters to leave, in conditions that were all too often painful and difficult, as the authorities of the time did not support or accompany them, but rather ostracised them.

This observation leads the present leaders of the Institute to ask forgiveness of all those who were victims of these abuses, of their families and loved ones who were sometimes deeply wounded and distraught; and in particular to Roseline de Romanet (Mother Marie Vianney), who was prevented, in spite of herself, from exercising her office as Prioress General from 1998 to 2004, humiliated, seriously and durably slandered (as well as her family) in the eyes of the Sisters and the Church. At the same time, they thank her and all those who broke the silence, denounced the abuses, met with indifference or contempt, even going so far as to sacrifice their vocation.

Following the conclusions of the 2012 Apostolic Visitation and the impetus of the 2020 General Chapter, the Institute has embarked on a journey of reform and conversion. This General Chapter, as well as a rereading of history by all the sisters in June 2021, were two essential steps in this process of renewal. Several points of attention and vigilance have emerged in view of the establishment of a just exercise of authority, ongoing formation of the sisters in the field of human sciences and canon law, as well as the establishment of a human and spiritual accompaniment provided by qualified persons.

The wish of all those who associate themselves with this declaration is also to be part of the prayer intention formulated by the Holy Father for the month of March 2023: "to shed full light on the dysfunctions suffered so that they do not happen again" (**). In the coming months, the signatories of this joint declaration ask that an independent and multidisciplinary commission be set up to enable the Institute to better identify, understand and analyse all the abuses that have taken place and to envisage the outlines of a just reparation. 

***

Sister Marie Elie, Prioress General of the BSCM congregation, and the General Council

(*) including Anne-Sophie B. (formerly Sr Marie André), Roseline de Romanet (formerly Sr Marie Vianney), Aurélie M. (formerly Sr Marie Lucille), Nathalie Brun (formerly Sr Marie Pauline), Sophie F.B. (formerly Sr Marie Christophe), Claire Daniel (formerly Sr Anne Claire), Marie M. (formerly Sr Marie Astrid), Aurélie Péricard (formerly Sr Marie Aurélie), Julie R. (formerly Sr Marie Salomé), Anne-Christine (formerly Sr Marie Jacques), Céline J.- G., Anne Langlade de Montgros (formerly Sr Anne Cyrille)

"A serious cowardice of the Church

Former prioress (1998-2004), Roseline de Romanet left the congregation in 2004 and was relieved of her vows in 2010; she explains the context of this communiqué to La Croix and in particular the factory of consent and manipulation within the congregation.

"This communiqué is the fruit of a long, long work. It took us more than twenty years to name things together. It is about the colossal power of a hold with its multiple and dramatic consequences and of a serious dysfunction at the heart of the Church, of an abysmal lack of responsibility.

It is not for lack of having alerted men of the Church at the highest level, Rome certainly sent two Apostolic Visits, but this did not prevent twenty years from passing before the difficulties began to be resolved. What a waste of time!

She also explains this phenomenon of domination: "In the congregation we have suffered a personality for whom emotional blackmail, lies and manipulation were commonplace. This person entered the community in the 1960s, and gave a lot [this is a former superior, in office in the 1980s and 1990s], but she acquired an aura that allowed this system of abuse to flourish. As Prioress General, in the name of obedience and God, she demanded things of us that profoundly undermined our freedom.

Impossibility to go alone to the doctor, imposed antidepressant treatments for some, obsession with food, infantilisation by dividing to better rule... At the general chapters, the sisters were asked to vote for this or that person, there was no freedom of choice. We were forbidden to talk about anything to our families [...] Everything was guided by a desire for power and control.

A hold that those close to her in the congregation also experienced: "My own sister experienced an unspeakable ordeal in the congregation. She was lied to about us and asked to disown her family. She did not want to see us for almost ten years. So this statement is also an acknowledgement of the wrong done to our family. She has been part of the congregation for thirty-two years, today her body gave out, she had to go out for treatment. She has been broken.  

As prioress, she was hindered in her task: "I was appointed prioress general at a very young age, 29 years old, in 1998. The former Prioress General, whose term of office could not be renewed after thirty years in the post, became my assistant, officially. But I soon realised that I was a figurehead prioress, put there so that the former Prioress could continue to do what she wanted. She had been in the community for thirty-six years.

On a regular basis, sisters sent by the former prioress would go through my garbage, put my papers together, and even changed the lock on my desk once. Some of the sisters had such hateful looks in their eyes, I think if they could have, they would have killed me.

After the first botched visit in a month and a half, she left the congregation, then asked in 2010 to be released from her vows. In 2012, "it was nevertheless a bishop, Mgr Jean-Louis Papin, bishop of Nancy, who heard my parents' suffering. My parents were crucified not to see my sister anymore, to see the congregation locked up without anything being done. It was he who went to see the shrines and meet the rectors, he put together a dossier and it was thanks to him that the second apostolic visit, which was essential, took place in 2012. Then an apostolic administrator, Mgr Gueneley, was appointed.

The former prioress - she is Mother Marie-Agnès, Françoise Jullien in civil status - had to step aside in 2013, she moved to Vernon (27) in a flat and tried to detach sisters. "Today, all those who participated in the climate of abuse and violence within the congregation are no longer in charge. The former prioress died [on 29 October] 2016 not recognising things, and that is a great sadness." 

She denounces "a serious cowardice within the Church. With a few exceptions, the accompaniment by the Church authorities did not take the measure when everything was said and they knew. I was met with real contempt. I was even told once that it was a "women's issue" and that it would be solved from within. This is frightening. If we had had to wait for reform to come from within... the evil would still be there.

See also Fractured Face of Carmel

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