PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International [Montrouge Cedex, France]
December 13, 2024
By Matthieu Lasserre
An internal investigation report commissioned by the Paris Foreign Missions Society revealed 63 allegations of sexual violence perpetrated by the congregation’s priests between 1950 and 2024. However, the number is most likely greater.
An internal investigation report commissioned by the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) yielded an initial yet incomplete assessment of how sexual abuse was addressed within the missionary organization.
Published December 12 by the MEP, the report was conducted by GCPS Consulting, an independent British firm specializing in safeguarding against sexual abuse. It highlighted the urgent need for concrete measures to prevent sexual violence within the MEP.
Founded in 1658, the Paris Foreign Missions Society is a Catholic organization comprised of priests and laypople dedicated to missionary work abroad. The MEP has primarily evangelized in Asia for nearly four centuries.
The study covered 63 allegations from 1950 to the present, including eight substantiated cases involving 46 priests—representing 3% of the 1,491 priests active in the MEP since 1950. This percentage aligned with findings from the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE), which reported similar figures (~2.8%).
However, the auditors examined only 350 files of priests whose names appeared in the MEP’s permanent council minutes. “The total number of allegations recorded over 74 years is low,” the auditors noted, adding, “It is likely that the actual number of sexual violence cases perpetrated by MEP priests is significantly higher.”
A systemic nature of abuse
The audit uncovered a pattern of systemic issues: priests were relocated, incidents downplayed, and the institution protected. The report paints a picture of a culture that enabled abuse without detailing specific cases. In 2023, media outlets, including La Croix, revealed canonical or legal proceedings against four MEP members, including two former superiors who later became bishops: French Bishop Georges Colomb of La Rochelle — in southwestern France — who was suspended following a rape allegation, and former Auxiliary Bishop Gilles Reithinger of Strasbourg, a former MEP superior general who is currently under a canonical investigation for accusations of initiating a priest into a secret sexual lifestyle within the organization. Both bishops have denied the allegations.
While the report stopped short of addressing individual or collective accountability directly, it highlighted a rise in abuse reports during the 2010s and the 1970s. It attributed this trend partly to troubling practices at the MEP’s Paris headquarters, where “ambiguous behaviors” and “dynamics of control and power games” were noted. The report also mentioned testimonies describing certain priests’ actions at the Rue du Bac residence and administration center in Paris as exerting pressure for sexual relationships.
The report criticized a focus among many MEP priests on homosexuality as a root cause of sexual violence, which obscured the role of power dynamics in abuses. Most victims were women (38) compared to men (23). “Sexual orientation overshadowed issues of consent and abuse of power,” the report stated.
Father Vincent Sénéchal, the MEP superior general, rejected claims of a “system” in 2023. Reacting to the findings, he expressed indignation but maintained there was no organized network: “The report doesn’t show evidence of a mastermind orchestrating systematic abuse. It highlights a flawed framework and individual failings.”
Overlooked victims
The report also noted challenges in addressing abuse within the MEP’s mission territories, often remote areas with limited supervision, and local cultures prioritizing harmony and authority over individual grievances. Despite outreach campaigns translated into local languages, no victims came forward during the year-long investigation. As a result, most reports between 1970 and 2024 originated in France (19), followed by Thailand (10), Cambodia (7), Japan, and India (5 each).
Investigators highlighted logistical barriers to identifying victims in remote regions, where access to technology and literacy are limited. This is critical as many MEP missions involve vulnerable populations, including children in boarding schools and refugees.
The report criticized a systemic failure in victim support, which has focused on incident reporting rather than providing resources for recovery. Recommendations include adapting safeguarding measures to local contexts, identifying key figures to oversee prevention, and closely monitoring abuse prevention initiatives in every parish managed by MEP priests.
However, the report offered limited guidance on active victim outreach or reparations for survivors of MEP priests’ sexual violence.
Call for a Historical Inquiry Commission
An external monitoring committee will publish annual progress reports on implementing GCPS Consulting’s recommendations. “The audit holds up a mirror we cannot ignore,” Father Sénéchal asserted. Plans included hiring external safeguarding experts, requiring priests to sign a code of conduct and mandatory abuse prevention training. These initiatives will be reviewed at the MEP’s general assembly in 2028.
When asked whether a historical commission is necessary to examine personal and institutional accountability, Sénéchal responded, “The question remains open. We need time to process the audit before deciding.”
Within the MEP, some fear that meaningful cultural change may remain out of reach without a more exhaustive investigation.