Jean Varnier and Thomas Philippe: Priests, Theologians, Innovators of Communities for the Differently Abled, Inventors of Porno-Mysticism and Sexual Abusers

“If you take one thing away from today, I want you to know that I am a man with Down syndrome, and my life is worth living.”John Franklin “Frank” Stephens, Athlete.


Note: Much of this post is historical, and past quotes represent viewpoints from that time. I believe today, the term “intellectual difference” is more acceptable. Please feel free to add your understanding of the correct terminology.

Warning: Descriptor of clergy abuse


It’s not the theology; it’s the sexual preference/propensity of the offender.

Recently, I have been asked to articulate what it is about the theology that leads a clergy member to abuse. Maybe the right question is not being asked. The former Boy Scouts of America had over 82,000 victims of abuse. Do we ask, “What was it about learning to tie knots that leads a man to abuse a Scout?” The same thing goes for K-12 educators. Do we ask, “What is it about teaching math that led to 9.6% of K-12 students being sexually abused by an educator?”

In 2017, there were 747,408 sex offenders registered in the United States. More impressively, in 2020, this NIH study estimated that:

Approximately 1 to 5% of the male population is estimated to have pedophilia [,,], that is, a sexual interest in children.

There were 162.7 million men in 2020. That means there were 1.6-8.1 million who experienced some form of pedophilia.

I hasten to add that not all of these folks will offend. In fact,

an estimated 40–60 percent of sexual offenses against children are not committed by people with pedophilic interests

What about the number of psychopaths in the US? The general number quoted by the NIH in this study is 4.5% of men and women, although it is higher in men.

The bottom line is this.

There are a bunch (a “scientific” term 🙂 ) of people in the US who, at any given time, may be sexual offenders.

Sexual offenders choose churches because the environment demands respect and submission to authority, and it’s not hard to get a job.

In evangelical circles, one doesn’t even have to go to college. After high school, Robert Morris had no discernable education, a big church, and even started Kings University. Today, one need not even think up a sermon. They are easily purchased online. Morris started their churches from nothing. Such pastors can also dream up their theology, which might benefit their sexual preferences.

On the surface, they are caring for the disabled, underneath sexually abusing women: The hidden and despicable lives of Thomas Philippe and Jean Varnier.

I am a fan of Henri Nouwen. From Wikipedia:

Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen[pronunciation?] (January 24, 1932 – September 21, 1996) was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. His interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice and community. Over the course of his life, Nouwen was heavily influenced by the work of Anton Boisen, Thomas Merton, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, and Jean Vanier.

After nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, Nouwen went on to work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

I believe that those with intellectual differences are gifts to all of us. So, I was impressed with Nouwen, who chose to live with them in an intentional community. He often traveled and spoke with one of the residents.

As I read more by Nouwen, I found myself reading about the life of his mentor, Jean Vanier, who did so much for those with intellectual disabilities.

Jean Vanier CC GOQ (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ vanje], September 10, 1928 – May 7, 2019) was a Canadian Catholic philosopher and theologian. In 1964, he founded L’Arche, an international federation of communities spread over 37 countries for people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them. In 1971, he co-founded Faith and Light with Marie-Hélène Mathieu, which also works for people with developmental disabilities, their families, and friends in over 80 countries. He continued to live as a member of the original L’Arche community in Trosly-Breuil, France, until his death.

Over the years he wrote 30 books on religion, disability, normality, success, and tolerance.[1]

I was so taken by his devotion to caring for people with disabilities. Pope Francis honored him for caring for “those the world discarded.”

A week before his death, Pope Francis called Vanier to thank him for his years of ministry and service.[26]Following his death, Pope Francis, who was flying back to Rome from North Macedonia, told a group of journalists, “I want to express my gratitude for his testimony” and said Vanier could read and interpret not only the Christian gaze on “the mystery of death, of the cross, of suffering”, but also “the mystery of those who are discarded by the world”.[27]

Jean Varnier met “porno-mystic” Thomas Philippe.

Thomas Philippe was a priest who educated Jean Varnier about the plight of those with intellectual disabilities who were institutionalized. This would lead Varnier to start the first of many L’Arche communities, which stressed that people with disabilities were to be teachers, not burdens.

According to Wikipedia:

In 1964, through Vanier’s friendship with a priest named Thomas Philippe, he became aware of the plight of thousands of people institutionalized with developmental disabilities. Vanier invited two men, Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, to leave the institutions where they resided and live with him in Trosly-Breuil, France. Their time together led to the establishment of L’Arche at Trosly-Breuil, a community where people with disabilities live with those who care for them.[12][13] Since that time a network of 150 L’Arche communities have been established in 38 countries.[10] A governing philosophy of the communities is Vanier’s belief that people with disabilities are teachers, rather than burdens bestowed upon families.[14]

Until the late 1990s, Vanier carried the responsibility for L’Arche in Trosly-Breuil in France, and for the International Federation of L’Arche. He then stepped down to spend more time counselling, encouraging, and accompanying the people who come to live in L’Arche as assistants to those with disabilities. Vanier established 147 L’Arche communities in 37 countries around the world which have become places of pilgrimage for those involved.[15][16]

How do the beautiful and ugly develop at the same time?

In 2023, The Daily Compass posted abuse and ‘porno-mysticism’: the French scandal that explains Rupnik. Fr. Thomas Phillipe:

The founder of the Communauté Saint-Jean, Fr Dominique-Marie Philippe

More importantly, he had what he said was a mystical experience and discovered (Folks, always be careful when something new is discovered about Jesus.):

The Dominican friar, according to his own testimony, had experienced, seven years earlier, an unspecified ‘very obscure grace’, a presumed union with the Blessed Virgin Mary, which also involved his ‘sexual organs’. From this experience, Fr Thomas developed the intention to allow his future spiritual daughters to relive the same ‘grace’ through him. This ‘privilege’ later involved several nuns from two contemplative Dominican monasteries (in the one at Bouvines, the superior was Fr Thomas’ sister), three Carmelites, and finally the religious community and some members of l’Eau Vive.

And an abortion with bizarre results.

…The relationship between the two was known both to the superior and to Fr Thomas’ uncle, Fr Pierre-Thomas Dehau. The young nun was urged to have an abortion, and the dead baby was baptised and venerated as a relic until 1952, as a sign of the special mission that Our Lady would entrust to Fr Thomas and the initiates.

Let me clarify: He discovered that Jesus and Mary had some mystical sexual union. In 1950, Jean Varnier joined with Thomas Phillipe.

Jean Vanier was initiated into what Emprise calls ‘mystical-spiritual practice’ with a spiritual daughter of Fr Thomas, Jacqueline d’Halluin. In 1952, the Holy Office decided to intervene, first imposing on Fr Thomas to no longer have any relationship with members of l’Eau Vive and banning him four years later from exercising his priestly ministry, both in public and in private.

Although the priest was removed from his duties, his clerical status was not removed, and his relationship with Varnier grew closer.

However, it is not clear why the Holy Office did not proceed to dismiss the Dominican friar from the clerical state, given the seriousness of the facts committed and the monstrosity of the “mystical” justifications. A mistake that would cost dearly. In the meantime, both Jean Vanier and the other members of l’Eau Vive continue their contacts with Fr Thomas, despite the fact that the Holy Office had forbidden any relationship between Fr Thomas and the members of l’Eau Vive. Vanier, in particular, relied on Thomas and his brother, Marie-Dominique, for his doctorate in moral philosophy.

Varnier was so enmeshed in this perverse theology that:

Vanier argued even more clearly for “two distinct, specifically different moralities”, namely that of the virtues and that of the spiritual man, moved by the Spirit; the common morality and the morality of the mystics.

And there were about 25 victims of Varnier. Christianity Today reported in Report: Jean Vanier’s L’Arche Hid ‘Mystical-Sexual’ Sect for Decades.

Of the 25 women who experienced “a sexual act or intimate gesture” from Vanier, 14 remained members of L’Arche.

A synthesis of the commission’s report details the physical and sexual “prayer” Vanier engaged in with women:

From the end of the 1960s to the 2010s, the posture regularly described is that of Jean Vanier (this is also the case with Thomas Philippe and [his brother and fellow priest] Marie-Dominique Philippe) on his knees, his head resting on the bare chest of the “accompanied” person.

Tactile gestures intensify during prayer and accompaniment (holding hands, heads close together, foreheads touching, hugging each other). The different stories evoke a similar range of touching gestures, covering in particular “kisses on the mouth each time more intense, more passionate,” “voluptuous, avid,” and caresses on the erogenous zones of both partners, particularly the female’s breast.

In several cases, the touching progressed to acts of sexual assault. Partial nudity, the absence of coitus as well as the spiritual justification of sexual abuse led Jean Vanier to consider that these were non-sexual practices.

…The women who initially spoke up about abuse by Vanier described how he considered sexual acts as a part of spiritual direction, allegedly saying lines like, “This is not us, this is Mary and Jesus,” and “It is Jesus who loves you through me.”

Yet?

During his lifetime, Vanier was renowned for his faith, his gentleness, and his embodiment of friendship to those with disabilities. He was awarded the 2015 Templeton Prize

Before the final questions, it is essential to note that there does not seem to be any indication that those with disabilities were abused. Also, Nouwen is not suspected of being involved in this aspect of Varnier’s life.

The question(s) for discussion.

  • Did the theology cause the abuse?
  • Did priests’ need for chastity cause the development of a theology that gave them an out?
  • So much good came out of Philippe and Varnier’s life. How do we reconcile this?
  • This “secret” was hidden for decades. Did the fact they hid it indicate they knew it was nonsense?
  • How did Nouwen avoid Varnier’s porno-theology? Varnier was his mentor.

Today, L’Arche exists in 135 communities in  37 countries and 5 continents!


Comments

Jean Varnier and Thomas Philippe: Priests, Theologians, Innovators of Communities for the Differently Abled, Inventors of Porno-Mysticism and Sexual Abusers — 41 Comments

  1. This is from the L’Arche UK website. Canterbury is the oldest community in the UK.
    “ During his life Jean Vanier was widely admired as an advocate of spirituality, and of community shared with people with learning disabilities. After his death an independent investigation and a follow-up Study Commission found that, between 1950 and 2019, at least 25 women, all of them people without disabilities, experienced sexual contact with Vanier, as part of a continuum of confusion, control, and abuse. (1)

    L’Arche is committed to sharing the facts of Jean Vanier’s abuse openly and transparently and learning lessons from it. We continue to reflect on what our 60-year history means for our mission and values today. We are increasingly attentive to the power imbalances in community life and how to make sure these are not abused. We are more focused than ever on the voice, power and safety of people who are too often marginalised.

    Our experience of dealing with this together, and of living life together day by day, brings us back to things which have always been at the heart of L’Arche – mutuality, friendship, and the spiritual life of every human person. L’Arche people remain passionately committed to these things.”
    Our youth group used to visit it in the 1970’s and always found it unsettling.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  2. I read the report (or as much of it as I could stomach, I admit to breezing over a few parts) of the L’Arche Study Commission last year and it’s a really hard read.

    I’d also note this is not limited to Catholics. Mennonite communities have had to deal with fallout from John Howard Yoder’s predations on adult women. And it’s not like there weren’t investigations–there were two, one in 1984 (that led him to the University of Notre Dame) and another from 1992 to 1996. Yoder died in 1997. In 2013, women (Mennonite and other) started talking about the abuse they experienced at his hands. Here’s just one article about the impact; there are others. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2014-07/theology-and-misconduct

    I have gotten to the point in my life that it’s difficult not to imagine something “not healthy” is going on when a spiritual leader collects a large following, particularly if there’s no real oversight. The Catholic church seems to have lost the plot regarding Fr. Philippe, and there were no real institutions that could hold John Howard Yoder accountable, not in a time when it was possible for a sexual predator to leave one institution of higher learning for another without nary a peep. We also see how so many churches where the lead pastor is the man of the hour, and there’s no organization that really reins them in.

    To be clear, as we know from both the Catholic church and the Southern Baptist Convention, organizations also do a terrible job of dealing with predators.

    *sigh*

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  3. Lowlandseer,

    Excellent analysis, Lowlandseer. This caught my eye, and may give us the answer to Dee’s question, “Did the theology cause the abuse?” (It appears that Vanier was groomed by Father Philippe as well.)

    From the analysis Lowlandseer provided:
    “It seems indubitable that Vanier, along with his mother, were inheritors of a tradition of spiritual direction that certainly gave them new life at some point in their spiritual journey yet also bequeathed deformed theological practices. These deformed practices were then visited by Vanier on other people, including at L’Arche. That Vanier may have himself been groomed by a spiritual abuser highlights the importance of recognizing that deformed Christian practice can be both attractive and is likely to be handed down through the generations if not critically and honestly faced.”

    I believe the best book ever written on Christian leadership was Henri Nouwen’s little work, “In the Name of Jesus”.
    He reflects on leaving the elite halls of academia (Harvard), joining the community of L’Arche, and learning that true leadership and ministry “in the name of Jesus” was serving the special people OF that community.

    The “leadership” models promoted in Evangelicalism look more like Silicon Valley or Wall Street than the “upside down Kingdom” of Jesus; you know, where the least are greatest, the last first, the afflicted inherit the land…

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  4. Lowlandseer: Did the theology cause the abuse?

    Lack of boundaries caused the abuse.

    Boundaries.

    A girl sits in a car with her boyfriend for a goodnight kiss after their date night. He says he loves her while reaching up under her skirt and beyond. Get out of that car, girl! No matter what the dude says, BOUNDARIES are being violated so RUN!

    What is it about Western culture and words? Wake up!

    From the link:

    “More precisely, eschatological concepts were deployed in order to declare traditionally prohibited sexual activities as licit, in being concieved as taking place beyond the mundane domain of everyday morality. A nuptial union taking place outside the ethics of normal Christian life brought affectionate union with God down into the contingency of everyday ethics in a manner that circumvented well-known church teachings about sexual ethics.”

    Twisted words and evil actions. Get out of the steamy confines of the twisted spin, to see clearly and uphold BOUNDARIES.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  5. Carmoll: 30 years working with children and adults with intellectual differences and their families.

    Thank you for your service.

    In every area of service are cunning evildoers using service as an inroad for power, greed, and vice. Service is camou.

    We should expect this and look for it as a precautionary practice.

    Everyone knows stores breed shoplifters. Doesn’t stop us from shopping or businesses from doing business. However, business do better with security and awareness or honesty about the presence of shoplifters. No one in business survives witb googley eyes and mythological dreams about customers when the reality is some are there to rob not purchase.

    Some people go into teaching to violate children. Some pastor for power, vice, and greed. Some LE love the power of their gun to harm. Some doctors DO harm, violating their oath.

    A healthy Society filters and weeds out, at first indication something is not right. The internet has moved this forward. Predators can run but not so easily hide anymore. Case: The Murdaugh Dynasty of the Lowcountry, SC., after 100+ years of powerful reign.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  6. Ava Aaronson: How so unsettlin?

    It’s difficult to explain but I and others in our group just felt that there was something oppressive about the atmosphere – some of the young residents repeated endlessly outward acts of devotion as if fearful of the consequences if they didn’t – at least that’s what it seemed like to our group of teenagers.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  7. > Did the theology cause the abuse?

    It would be presumptuous to imagine that I know the answer to this in any specific instance, but I think that as a general rule, “belief” is less foundational to what people do than is “desire”. People are endowed with rational faculties, but generally, “rationality” is not what governs; what governs is “desire”, and people’s rationality is employed to devise ways to obtain what is desired, and to justify what was done to obtain it. (Which suggests a general approach to thinking about the second question.)

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  8. What came first:the perversion or the theology?

    Usually it WASN’T the Theology.
    The Theology almost always comes later to Justify “What I WANNA” at a Cosmic level.

    Jean Varnier met “porno-mystic” Thomas Philippe.

    “Porno-Mystic”?
    Is that anything like Deep Throat Driscoll doing his “I SEE Things…”?

    (Folks, always be careful when something new is discovered about Jesus.):

    Especially when it’s someone who “The Nth time Jesus Appeared to me in a Vision and Saith…”
    Miracles (and Visions) do not come so frequent or so cheap.

    Let me clarify: He discovered that Jesus and Mary had some mystical sexual union.

    Mystical Mother-son Incest?
    The unholy spawn of Bridal Mysticism cross-bred with Da Vinci Code, with an upgrade on the Mary end.
    As an RCC insider, the most common way for Catholics to flake out is some form of Mary Obsession/Mary Channeling. Mary, Mary, Mary. Makes me wish St Mary would actually appear to these Mystics/Channelers and slap some sense into them.

    Vanier argued even more clearly for “two distinct, specifically different moralities”, namely that of the virtues and that of the spiritual man, moved by the Spirit; the common morality and the morality of the mystics.

    Isn’t that like the Manicheans that Monica’s son Augustine was mixed up with in his younger horndog days? SO Spiritual that nothing of the Flesh (like banging around like a three-balled tomcat) could ever affect their Spiritual Holiness?

    In several cases, the touching progressed to acts of sexual assault. Partial nudity, the absence of coitus as well as the spiritual justification of sexual abuse led Jean Vanier to consider that these were non-sexual practices.

    No Tab A in Slot B, so it isn’t really Sex! LOOPHOLE!
    Just like Douggie ESQUIRE, Bill Got Hard, Falwell Junior’s instructions to Pool Boy, and John “Jack the Whipper” Smyth!

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  9. I’ve heard a lot of people who have studied clerical abuse and had to develop pretty thick skins say that Vanier’s abuse is as horrifying as they’ve come across.

    This also seems to be a problem with Vanier in particular and not L’Arche more broadly.
    This twisted theology did not seem to spread beyond the initial L’Arche house in France.
    In the last five years, L’Arche has been as transparent as any organization I’ve come across regarding bringing such things into the light.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  10. dee: Thank you for this excellent article.

    And thank you for this excellent post, Dee.

    Thank God for the Internet where we can sort these things out, where evil gets put in the Light.

    That Ravi Z was another snake in the grass, hiding extreme evil, in God’s name. Ian Campbell across the pond fooled the Christian world, too.

    Hidden in plain sight is the key to this evil in the church that looks so good at a glance.

    From the excellent article:

    “Until now these were all that was available to those interested in the theology of L’Arche, and in them their erotico-mystical theology was hidden in plain sight. A close reading of these texts points to a deformed eschatology as the fatal theological doctrine Vanier inherited from Philippe. More precisely, eschatological concepts were deployed in order to declare traditionally prohibited sexual activities as licit, in being concieved as taking place beyond the mundane domain of everyday morality. A nuptial union taking place outside the ethics of normal Christian life brought affectionate union with God down into the contingency of everyday ethics in a manner that circumvented well-known church teachings about sexual ethics.”

    What Varnier and Philippe did was what cults do: twisting truth into evil. It feels like truth but it’s evil. Smooth as silk yet deadly poison – poison fed to followers via subtle deadly grooming.

    “Be wise as serpents, innocent as doves,” Jesus said.

    God help us.

    For what it’s worth, I believe in questioning every helping hand extended in the name of Jesus. Who is attached to that hand? What will follow the seemingly kind gesture? Is the helping hand extended to reel in the receiver? Does the giver then OWN the receiver? There’s a time and place to refuse a gift. God help the vulnerable in this world. God damn predation of any guise, in the name of and by the blood of Jesus.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  11. Correction on your article: Morris didn’t start The King’s University, Jack Hayford did. He took it over when it relocated from California to Texas.

    But it is interesting for him to be Chancellor of a university – a position which, at any accredited university, requires an earned doctorate (Billy Graham was considering leaving the ministry to get his when Northwestern School – which he headed at the time – was considering accreditation). Yet Morris’ educational “accomplishments” include high school graduation “in the top ten percent – of the bottom third of his class” (his own words), plus some work at East Texas Baptist University and Criswell College, but no college diploma.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  12. I’ve not yet finished reading all the comments….my apologies if someone’s already commented on this….

    From the Christianity Today post, Report: Jean Vanier’s L’Arche Hid ‘Mystical-Sexual’ Sect for Decades that Dee linked to in her OP:

    The report noted Vanier’s use of spiritual terms with sexual connotations throughout his correspondence, sometimes subtly — “they ‘penetrate’ (the mysteries through Love), they are ‘hidden in the bosom’ (of the Immaculate one)” — and sometimes in “hardly veiled terms” referring to his arousal.

    This particular paragraph reminded me of Joshua Butler’s “book”, Beautiful Union.

    (I’m intentionally omitting other similarities in the posts to other “theologies”, “pastors”, etc. 🙂 )

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  13. Mark R: Morris’ educational “accomplishments” include high school graduation “in the top ten percent – of the bottom third of his class” (his own words), plus some work at East Texas Baptist University and Criswell College, but no college diploma

    Anyone (anyone!) can be a successful “pastor” in America if they have a touch of charisma, a gift of gab, and a general working knowledge of the Bible. The American church has little discernment to detect the counterfeit … we read all about it everyday on The Wartburg Watch.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  14. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Apparently a common theme and thread among the “pious” perverts.

    In both the OT and NT, God’s Word mentions pious perverts and other types of evil ones who have infiltrated the People of God by twisting God’s Word. (Not to be envied, considering how this will not end well for the twisted who claim to be faithful, but it’s camou, cosplay, and concealed, regarding their true identity.)

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  15. “Did the theology cause the abuse?”
    +++++++++++++++

    i think it’s the co-dependent relationship of acquisition of power over, and the assent to power over.

    in a religious context, it’s power on steroids. power to declare things in the name of God.

    a person with a pastor/influencer hat has a ton of power, w/the presumed “God” endorsement.
    .
    .
    it’s interesting. Religion brings out the best & the worst in people.

    I’ve observed how, in my own religion alone (christianity), many aspects of base human nature are easily justified.

    and amazingly enough, redefined as godly, righteous, biblical…

    it is not hard at all to make the bible say whatever you want.

    i’m regularly shocked – at christians’ behavior, and too many of the things they believe.

    things cobbled-together-by-conjecture are not worthy of “belief”. consideration, maybe – but not belief.
    .
    .
    and the propensity for authority…

    — wanting someone to be in charge to tell us what to do; wanting the power/control to be the person in charge telling others what to do —

    means people are vulnerable to believing any number of dumb, weird, unwise, inhumane things.

    things people hear from influencers.

    things people with power (& its corrupting God-complex) convince themselves of.

    because their audience eggs them on for something new and revolutionary.
    .
    .
    the audience wants power over them, the influencer wants power — they feed each other in codependence resulting in dumb, weird, unwise, inhumane things.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  16. elastigirl: a person with a pastor/influencer hat has a ton of power, w/the presumed “God” endorsement

    The Bible has a lot to say about the sin of presumption. The pulpit is replete with “pastors” who are acting with illegitimate authority to serve in that sacred office … presuming that God is obligated to support them for “going” into the ministry rather than being “called” into ministry.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  17. Ava Aaronson: (Not to be envied, considering how this will not end well for the twisted who claim to be faithful, but it’s camou, cosplay, and concealed, regarding their true identity.)

    WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT RABBI FROM TARSUS MEANT WHEN HE PENNED “FOR SATAN HIMSELF CAN TRANSFORM HIMSELF TO APPEAR AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT”? Successful Sociopaths and Abusers are masters of self-camouflage; we only hear about the dumb ones who get caught.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  18. researcher: The report noted Vanier’s use of spiritual terms with sexual connotations throughout his correspondence, sometimes subtly — “they ‘penetrate’ (the mysteries through Love), they are ‘hidden in the bosom’ (of the Immaculate one)”

    This sounds like Bridal Mysticism of the late Middle Ages, expressing spiritual ecstasy in highly-erotic language.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  19. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Yes – first it’s the theology.

    Even you H.U.G dislike eschatology – so what better than an “alternative” one whether it’s Left Behind or this stuff. Every street corner new reformed church follows dumbed down eschatology now (while the rare, real version of it is common sensical and specific).

    Next pander to public sensibility by “othering” those obviously differently abled. And dish out virtue signalling opportunities in that the public can think the “other” to be “cuddly” enough to read those books.

    Then garnish it in gloops of Teilhardism.

    Bridget, Carmoll, Lowlandseer (your intuitions when visiting with your youth asssociates), PapaB, you all added many layers which I could have commented on in moree detail, thank you so much.

    Bad anthropology if you claim to be a christian is also part of bad theology, and writing is theology in practice, as is the other goings on and the way the always clearly weak minded (the romantic loud mouthed underemployed cleric) Nouwen (toying with giving up power) got brought in (lights making each other shine even more brightly).

    It seemed to me everyone has differences, and when I came across Vanier’s gushes of verbiage I thought it distasteful (and likewise Nouwen’s) without being able to explain properly at the time.

    I could tell there was no sound logic to Vanier or Nouwen (who vaunted his codependent relations with one of the residents, “enabled” by Vanier & Philippe).

    In general these findings do devolve to a layer in the ideology of their localized communities. In movements as I’ve seen, variety, and relatively genuine showcases, aid deniability.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  20. Clearly the remaining personnel of that organisation are actively reviewing their ideology the days and also many care homes benefit from long-term live-in staff.

    Lowlandseer,

    I was amused by the ethereal Thompson manoeuvrings being contrasted with the “ephemeral” Billy Graham!

    I remember too well, similar such people who promised to “form” a cultural generation, from my own hanging around these.

    Roland Barthes (no relation to Karl Barth who is also alluded to in the article under ref – must follow up haha) critiqued Ignatius Loyola’s industrialised spiritual direction being deployed in the name of religious bosses.

    Also Michel Foucault (I know some of you don’t like him) did point out the roots of psychoanalysis in this. Othering has been called taxonomy by some. We are construed as specimens.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  21. Michael in UK: Even you H.U.G dislike eschatology – so what better than an “alternative” one whether it’s Left Behind or this stuff. Every street corner new reformed church follows dumbed down eschatology now (while the rare, real version of it is common sensical and specific).

    Because I got overdosed on Hal Lindsay Eschatology (of which Left Behind is but a knockoff) some 40-50 years ago.

    Next pander to public sensibility by “othering” those obviously differently abled.

    Like me with my enormous chaotic mental database with no search engine (only random free-associaton linked lists), a brain that never stops running at redline (not even when I sleep), and a lot more interests and thirst for knowledge than just Bible verses.

    And dish out virtue signalling opportunities in that the public can think the “other” to be “cuddly” enough to read those books.

    You lost me at the “other to be cuddly enough” part. MinUK.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

  22. Headless Unicorn Guy: lost me at the “other to be cuddly enough” part

    That’s what motivated the public to read Vanier’s books, able to participate in his gushing emotions by proxy. Vanier – like Hal, and the grave suckers, and the prayer deniers – was so superior and that was his surefire selling point.

    I inferred there must be a real eschaton / -ology and a real charismatic, equally different from all the extremes and denials. Why would strongarmers be so at pains to discredit those?

    I believed the whole of the meanings of the whole of Holy Scripture from a young age (much of it taught to me by agnostics) (and I can almost never give the verse numberings).

    That’s because my family of origin were religious mavericks, and I had an independent attitude to inferring knowledge, and I assumed words function as allusions, and I prioritise the train of logic, and I exploded the Stottites in my teens, and I have always been adamant that manipulating is blasphemy against knowledge (critical theory) (my worst cult were very stealthful).

    Counterfundamentalists have the same template as the fundamentalists, merely switching off one itemised assumption, which is why you can’t place me on any conventional ideological scale.

    Hal / Teilhard and no eschaton at all, that’s the same thing, avoiding real life. Grave sucking and no charismatic * at all, same thing, avoiding real life. Mary freakers-out and no prayer at all (new reformed), same thing, avoiding real life.

    * Jesus provided us with a variety of mannerisms for accepting dual action Holy Spirit but the hidebound made Jesus look hidebound like them. I just refuse to think as I’m told, including when told not to think (my rock bottom was when I obeyed that).

    Going only by extreme cases dulls ability to notice the huge universe in between.

      (Reply & quote selected text)  (Reply to this comment)

Leave a comment - Click here for our commenting rules

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *