The Letter That Changed Everything

When prominent spiritual leaders are abusive, their victims are at the epicenter of the earthquake. But when the truth comes out, the rest of us still feel the aftershocks.

In this final episode, we turn to the wider community that was impacted by Jean Vanier’s abuse — people who didn’t know Vanier directly, but who read his books, were inspired by L’Arche’s model of community, or served as volunteers. What do we call the kind of harm these people experience? And how do we heal from it? You’ll hear from ethicist Karen Guth about different options for responding to tainted legacies and from spiritual abuse expert Rachael Clinton Chen about the “shrapnel” of spiritual abuse. 

And you’ll hear the story of how Judy Farquharson — with the help of Donna Varnau and Cecilia McPherson — helped clear the path for other victims of Jean Vanier to come forward.

Listen and subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Lead Us Not is a podcast from Sojourners magazine. This episode was produced, written, and edited by, Jenna Barnett, with executive production and story editing by Betsy Shirley. Sound design and mixing by JP Keenan, fact checking by Mitchell Atencio. Tiarra Lucas designed our podcast cover. Our theme music is by Borrtex and by Yehezkel Raz. 

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Sojourners magazine is an independent, award-winning magazine of faith, culture, and politics. Our mission is to inspire hope and action by articulating the biblical call to racial and social justice, life and peace, and environmental stewardship.