The members of the self-proclaimed “The Group”, a spiritual community of the Society of Jesus for catechism, retreats and prayers in Madrid, received an official letter on their organization’s letterhead last Monday. In it, the spiritual guides told them that the rumors they had heard and asked about were true: the well-known priest JM had been denounced in the past for abuse while he was religious there, when he had had permanent contact with hundreds of children, young people and adults, many of whom he accompanied on retreats and alone.
“In 2015, the then Provincial of the Society of Jesus received two complaints against JM for inappropriate behavior in the context of spiritual accompaniment during his time as a priest of the Community of Loyola Catholic Groups – as this community is also known. based in the Salamanca neighborhood. Subsequently, four new testimonies were received,” says the letter, to which elDiario.es has had access.
What is “inappropriate behavior”? The Society of Jesus has responded to the questions from this medium saying that it was “a complaint of inappropriate behavior” and that “it must be understood that the concept of abuse encompasses very different behaviors.” They add that “it had no judicial process” and repeat that “in this case it involved inappropriate conduct in the accompaniment relationship”, without specifying further or referring to the other five testimonies that the letter talks about.
The events reported were prior to 2009, the year in which the religious had left this community, and affected minors, but also adults. What had the Society of Jesus done? In the recently sent letter, dated the 23rd of this month, the prayer group explains that in 2015 an investigation was opened “which culminated in a canonical Decree with measures for 5 years.”
Among the measures was “the explicit prohibition of JM from pastoral activity with minors, also participation in activities of the Loyola Groups as well as any spiritual accompaniment.” elDiario.es has asked the Company where he was transferred, without having obtained a specific answer. Of the adults, although abuse or “inappropriate behavior” had also been reported, they were not specifically separated.
An open secret
This is the case of Miguel (fictitious name, since he prefers not to be identified), a member of the community in the years in which JM guided young people: “It happened to me when I was already a university student, of legal age, in the early 2000s. While on retreat, I accompanied him individually on days of silence. In a couple of sessions he hugged me in an unusual way, he breathed on me as if panting. He put his hand under my shirt and started feeling my back. On top of that, there were days of silence, in which speaking is not allowed, so the context was very favorable for someone like that.”
At that time, the religious had not been officially reported to the ecclesiastical authorities and had free rein in all those sessions, even though it was an open secret. “Many knew it,” says Miguel. “In fact, I remember telling a religious person and he did absolutely nothing, there really were no consequences.”
In the letter sent to their community, the Jesuits admit that in 2021 the case was reviewed and everything remained the same, despite the fact that social awareness of the abuses was greater, public complaints were multiplying and the Vatican had requested more controls. “The measures were reviewed and today the pastoral prohibition and accompaniment with minors are maintained, as well as participation in activities and it is requested that the contact maintained be personal and not apostolic.” When asked what it means when it allows personal contact or where it is now, the Company does not give a concrete answer.
Both the recent plan of the Church against abuse and the specific protocol of the Society of Jesus, posted online, require helping to report or compensate victims in various ways, also financially. According to the official letter, “in one of the cases the Company of Jesus facilitated the victim’s request for reparation.” Of the rest, nothing is known. The Jesuits have not answered specific questions in this regard either.
The letter also includes the verbatim words of the current Provincial, the leader of the Company since 2023, in which he asks for forgiveness and justifies the organization’s actions: “Although this revelation and the shadow it represents hurts now, it does not cancel out much of what In J.’s life it has also been dedication, service and the desire to get it right when sharing the gospel. As the current provincial of J., in the name of the Society of Jesus I ask your forgiveness, as we did at the time with the victims,” the letter relates.
It also shows that the abuser implicitly assumed guilt: “In accordance with the will expressed by the complainants, J. has never known the origin of the accusations, but he showed from the first moment a firm will to review his past conduct and the deep roots of these, which has involved a process of personal review.”
With that and everything, he has not been expelled from the Church or denounced, and he continues his spiritual life without any further public or legal consequences. “At all times, the wishes of the victims have been met, with regard to anonymity, and the reparation processes when they have requested it. But it is not up to us to give more information about it,” official sources from the Jesuits conclude in a generic way.
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Source: www.eldiario.es
