This is a “first” according to the organizers of this approach. The congregation of the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel (FSG) officially and collectively recognizes Thursday in Vendée the acts of pedocriminality committed by twenty of its members in the past on about fifty people. Twenty-five victims took part, in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (Vendée) – the historic cradle of the congregation – in this day of “listening and recognition”.
The meeting is organized by the religious institute, the victims – grouped within the “FSG Group – Collective 85” (Vendée victims) and the Recognition and Reparation Commission (CRR, set up in January to propose a mediation between Catholic institutes and victims). “It’s a great first, it’s a moment when victims and the congregation will be able to talk to each other from group to group,” said Antoine Garapon, president of the CRR.
First step before repair
In total, to the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel – a teaching congregation which notably seconded brothers to schools – in Vendée, Finistère, Maine-et-Loire, Loire-Atlantique – a little more than twenty attackers (all deceased ) were identified, for events that took place from 1950 to the mid-1970s, on about fifty people, according to the coordinator of this event, Brother Christian Bizon. Brother Gabriel G. alone assaulted at least twenty children, boys and girls between 1965 and 1972 in two primary schools in Issé (Loire-Atlantique) and Loctudy (Finistère), according to the congregation and the victims, including 17 are present on Thursday.
Testimonies, reading of the names of the aggressors, and yet another declaration of recognition by the superior responsible for France are planned for this day. Another singularity: the religious congregation has undertaken to finance a study carried out by a historian from the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) on the facts committed, “with a memorial objective”. “It’s a first step, which will then allow us to move on to the second phase, reparation”, testified Luc Coirier, one of the victims of the FSG Group – Collective 85, before the meeting.