Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier (born September 10, 1928, Geneva, Switzerland—died May 7, 2019, Paris, France) was a Swiss-born Roman Catholic social activist, theologian, and philosopher who was involved in efforts to provide congenial living communities for people with intellectual disabilities. He was the recipient of the 2015 Templeton Prize. In 2023 an expert report revealed that Vanier and his mentor Thomas Philippe abused at least 25 women (none of whom had intellectual disabilities) in a mystical-sexual sect hidden within his foundation.

(Read Britannica’s article on the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis.)

Vanier spent part of his childhood in Canada, which his father, Georges, served as a Canadian military officer and a diplomat and later as governor-general. Vanier also lived in London and Paris. In 1942 he entered the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. He served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, but in 1949 he transferred to the Canadian navy. After Vanier resigned (1950) his naval commission, he went to Paris to pursue university studies, earning a Ph.D. in philosophy (1962) from the Institut Catholique de Paris. His 2001 book, Made for Happiness: Discovering the Meaning of Life with Aristotle, was based on his doctoral dissertation on the concept of happiness in Aristotle’s Ethics. Vanier taught philosophy for a term at the University of Toronto.

While in France, Vanier encountered L’Eau Vive, a spiritual and theological center founded in the village of Soisy-sur-Seine by Dominican priest Thomas Philippe. Philippe had developed a sexual theology involving an incestuous understanding of Jesus and Mary and in 1956 was banned by the Roman Catholic Church from exercising any public or private ministry. Also, L’Eau Vive was ordered to be dissolved. Despite these sanctions for “false mysticism,” Vanier joined Philippe in the village of Trosly-Breuil when Philippe was posted there, and Vanier adopted Philippe’s mystical-sexual beliefs, which involved nudity and sexual touch in times of prayer, contemplation, and spiritual direction. It was there, in 1964, that Vanier founded L’Arche (“the Ark” or “the Arch”), a small home that he shared with two men with mental disabilities. Letters uncovered in the 2023 report suggest that L’Arche, though established with a sincere commitment to help people with disabilities, served as a cover to reunite Philippe’s disciples from L’Eau Vive and allowed the men to prey on religious sisters and young laywomen considering a religious vocation from 1970 to 2005. Legitimate L’Arche communities, which included both intellectually disabled and nondisabled individuals, were started in 34 other countries.

In 1971 Vanier and special-needs teacher Marie-Hélène Mathieu founded Faith and Light, a movement that grew into a network of hundreds of communities that brought together people with intellectual disabilities and their families and friends for a monthly meeting. Once every 10 years Faith and Light led pilgrimages to the town of Lourdes or to Rome. In 1988 Pope John Paul II invited Vanier to participate in the Synod of the Laity in Rome. Vanier was the author of numerous books on philosophy, theology, and intellectual disability.

In 2015 Vanier received the Templeton Prize “for his innovative discovery of the central role of vulnerable people in the creation of a more just, inclusive and humane society.” The honor, which included a nearly $1.7 million monetary award, was bestowed on a “living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”

A few years before Vanier’s death in 2019, L’Arche International received its first complaint against him from a victim, and the organization commissioned independent experts to investigate their founder in 2020. The damning findings, released publicly for full transparency, were devastating to many who had esteemed Vanier as an exemplary Catholic and champion of the disabled. Despite Vanier using L’Arche as a shield for his abusive mystical and sexual practices, the report concluded that the organization had nothing to do with the sect and found no evidence that the beliefs of L’Eau Vive had spread to other L’Arche leaders. Reeling from the findings of the report, the organization apologized for the suffering hidden behind its mission. L’Arche USA strongly condemned “the insidious grooming, the psychological and spiritual exploitation, the intentional use and abuse of power, the sexual violence, the lies, manipulation, and deceit” of Vanier and Philippe.