During a forum in Bayonne on Saturday March 15, the religious congregation of Betharram detailed the framework of the independent commission, chaired by the NGO IFJD-Institut Louis Joinet.
The religious congregation of the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram, who has long led the Catholic establishment of Béarn, had recognized Tuesday March 4 “responsibility” in physical and sexual violence denounced by former students. She had announced launching an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the causes of these “massive abuses”. During the forum on sexual violence which took place in Bayonne on Saturday March 15, the congregation detailed the framework of this commission.
The objective is to “actively participate in the recognition of all the victims”, announced the congregation during the forum, indicates Mediabask. To do this, the NGO IFJD-Institut Louis Joinet will chair the independent commission of inquiry. “We are as much as we can at the disposal of the victims,” said Jean-Pierre Massias, president of the organization, during the forum. He recalls that “the condition of operation of this commission lies in its independence, it will be total”. It should not be “an instrument of money laundering or rehabilitation”, but of understanding, he argued. “We obviously hope it will be the beginning of a possible exchange,” he said at the microphone of Here Béarn Bigorre.
“I think it goes beyond Betharram in the Béarn”
“All victims can be heard to help establish the truth,” said Father Bacho, head of the Listening Cell for Betharram priests. According to the religious congregation, the commission of inquiry aims to establish an exhaustive assessment of physical and sexual violence perpetrated in Betharram, to identify causes of systemic abuses, to recognize victims through a process of memory reparation and to develop a system of reparation “neither by the judiciary nor before the recognition and repair commission (CRR)”. The religious congregation will also open its archives to the Commission so that it can investigate. The independent commission will have to make a full report within a year.
IFJD-Institut Louis Joinet has imposed an additional condition by agreeing to chair this commission of inquiry. Its field of study will not be limited to the establishment of Béarn. Fortunately: a preliminary survey was opened in Limoges after two reports of sexual abuse, perpetrated by priests of the Betharram congregation according to testimonies, were deposited in early March by former students of the Ozanam private school. Especially since the Fathers of Betharram are present on four continents, recalls here Béarn Bigorre. “We are going to work on two countries that seem to be potentially symptomatic of this kind of risk. It is the Central African Republic and Thailand, which can be places of great vulnerability,” said Jean-Pierre Massias on radio. And to add: “I believe that indeed, it exceeds Betharram in Béarn.”