Ex-members of women’s branch of Peru group seek compensation for fallout of abuse

ROME – Former members of the women’s branch of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) say that among the other consequences of the abuse they suffered is a loss of careers and income, and they’re asking for compensation.

Most of the roughly 30 former members of the Marian Community of Reconciliation (MCR) with whom Crux has spoken said they were either prevented from studying, or their studies were drawn out to the point that when they left, sometimes after decades in the group, they still had not completed degrees, leaving them with no financial means of support.

Most of the women agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, using pseudonyms.

One former member named “Gianna,” who spent 18 years in the MCR without completing her studies, said that many women in the group “never worked in anything formal [that was] paid, after repeatedly, explicitly asking to do so, but at the same time I wore myself out working for the MCR in everything they told me to do.”

Ex-members also pointed to lingering effects of abuse they endured inside of the institution, which resulted in a swath of members seeing internal psychologists and being medicated for conditions related to depression and anxiety, thereby further impeding their ability to make a living when they left.

RELATED: Ex-members of Peru group describe psychological, physical toll of abuse

The MCR, established in 1991, is one of four entities founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, including its male branch, the SCV, a group of nuns called the Servants of the Plan of God (SPD), and an ecclesial movement called the Christian Life Movement (CLM).

Figari, who was previously sanctioned by the Vatican over allegations of a broad range of abuses, including the psychological, physical, and sexual abuse of members, was expelled from the SCV along with 14 other members of the group earlier this year as part of an ongoing Vatican investigation.

Former members of the MCR have lodged complaints about psychological abuse and mistreatment, including emotional abuse and being pushed to physical and mental extremes.

RELATED: Ex-members say women’s branch of Peru group reflects same pattern of abuse

Most former members said they want compensation not only for therapy since leaving they have had to pay for out of pocket, but also for the loss of career advancement and for hours they worked with either no, or minimal, pay inside the institution.

Selective studying

Gianna said she spent 18 years in the MCR marked by cyclical promises that she could study, only for authorities to interrupt the process. When she finally left in her mid-30s, she had no degree, no job experience, and no money to live on.

“I was not sexually abused, “but all of the other abuses – physical, psychological, conscience, spiritual, authority – they were all part of the daily life of our formation,” she said.

When she was assigned to an MCR community house in Ecuador, Gianna said authorities told her she could begin studying psychology. A few years later she was transferred back to Lima, so her studies were interrupted. After arriving in Lima in the summer of 2010, Gianna said she was told she would be there long-term, so she arranged to begin studying again, forced to beg for money to pay tuition.

By November of that year, however, she was told to transfer to the community house in Piura, where they needed a superior.

Gianna said she resisted on grounds that she had had “to move heaven and earth” to get money to continue her studies, and that moving her when she had only just begun again was unjust.  In response, Gianna said she was reminded of her promise of obedience, so she moved to Piura and began taking online courses.

At the end of her first year there, the MCR decided to close that community house, meaning she had to leave, and once again her studies were interrupted.

“That’s when it started to take a huge toll on me psychologically,” she said, “What was I doing with my life?”

Gianna next was assigned as superior of a community house in Ecuador, and was able to resume her studies there for the next two years. Yet she was slow to advance, as MCR authorities determined how many credits she could take per semester, and some years she was enrolled for only two credits at a time.

In 2017, when she was in the second-to-last year of her studies and the time came for her to do her internships, Gianna said she received permission from authorities, so she signed up, raised the necessary funds and paid the fees. However, just before starting Gianna said she received a call from MCR authorities saying some members of her community had lodged complaints against her, and that she had to return to Lima the next week.

Gianna said she was able to convince authorities to let her stay in Ecuador until the end of the year to finish her internship, but was formally removed from Ecuador in January 2018, and sent to Lima without any formal assignment.  She was then told to see a psychologist, whom the MCR designated, and who after several tests determined there was nothing wrong with her.

After some months, Gianna said she made a formal request to leave the MCR, telling the authorities, “I came here to serve God, but now I have to leave so I don’t lose Him.”

Gianna said that having left with her final year of her studies still incomplete and no job experience or money, she depended on her family for help and eventually asked the MCR for compensation. While she asked for $20,000, she said she was only given $10,000, which was styled as an act of charity.

Similarly, former member “Valeria” told Crux that the MCR “only paid for some to study … those who were not selected and who wanted to study had to pay their own way. It was absurd.”

Valeria said she was considered too dull to study, so she was made to do shopping for the community and was called a “tapón,” a derogatory term meaning of a lower stature.

She said she was transferred five times during her 10 years in the MCR, and that the reason she was moved so often was because since she was not enrolled in academic courses, she was “more available for other services.”

At one point Valeria said she was transferred to a community house in Salerno, Italy. The MCR bought her plane ticket since she had no job or money. However, immediately after her arrival, she said she was hounded by authorities to reimburse them, even though she had not begun any formal work or services.

Valeria said she was forced to return to Lima due to visa troubles after only 18 months, and that a friend paid for her plane ticket for that trip, because the MCR said it had no money.

After returning to Lima Valeria said she became ill, with doctors later saying her illness was related to psychological and emotional stress. However, she said the MCR did not want to pay for diagnostic tests. The community house where she was staying declined, since she was technically still a member of the Salerno community, even though she was unable to return.

When Valeria explained her plight to authorities, she said they replied, “I’m sorry.”

After eventually returning to Salerno, Valeria said she was mistreated, belittled and insulted by her superior, and became depressed and put on medication. She eventually left and spent a few years in another religious community, where she said she was well received and cared for when she was diagnosed with cancer, until she later left that community and returned home.

Regarding her time in the MCR, Valeria said, “I want to be compensated for so much suffering experienced.”

Former member “Macarena” said she worked “for a pittance” in the community. During her first seven years working at an MCR-run school, she did not even know what her salary was, “because it was negotiated directly with the MCR.”

Her modest paycheck, she said, went to the MCR, which “never paid me anything.”

“My university studies were paid for by my parents, even money for photocopies,” she said. The MCR did not pay for plane tickets when she was traveling for apostolic projects, she said, and that after becoming seriously ill and requesting a period of rest, she had to pay for her own ticket.

After around 20 years in the MCR, Macarena said everything she had was purchased “with the money of my poor parents and [family],” and that she wants compensation from both the SCV and the MCR.

“Financial compensation must be decided by experts, not by the MCR. The SCV must take responsibility, and the MCR,” she said, asserting that many members of the MCR met the community as teenagers through youth projects of the SCV, and suffered various degrees of manipulation and abuse by SCV members both then and after entering community.

Another former member told Crux that she left the MCR with nothing, and that when questioned by her brother about compensation since she had no career and no savings, the response was simply, “We don’t have any money.”

“My brother was outraged because they had to give me everything until I found a job! They [the MCR] didn’t help me at all, and I left without a cent,” she said, saying she interrupted her studies in communications in order to join.

While still a member, she said a professor agreed to give her a partial scholarship since she was consecrated, but added, “They have money, I don’t know why you need a scholarship,” adding that she was in “a sect” and should consider leaving.

This former member said she left before completing her training and eventually obtained a doctorate in public relations.

“For me, that’s my gift, my dream made possible despite all the difficulties I went through and the fact that the MCR prevented me from doing it for a thousand and one reasons,” she said.

Former member Andrea Valdettaro told Crux that after spending eight years in the MCR, she left with no career or money, so she went to live with her parents and “I felt super out of date.”

When she decided to leave, Valdettaro said she was working at an MCR-run school and had decided to stay until the end of the term in December to ensure an easier transition for her students. The day before she left, she said, MCR authorities asked for her to return her salary.

“[The Fraterna in charge of finances] called to tell me that there was an account with my name with the entire year’s school salary, and I had to transfer it before I left,” she said.

Valdettaro said she did it out of obedience, and that “the only thing they cared about was that I left them their money, the money I had earned. No one asked me if I needed anything, how I was going to finish my studies, what plans I had, nothing.”

No one ever contacted her later to see how she was doing, she said.

Former member Fernanda Duque, who was sexually abused by a member of the SCV and experienced a swath of devastating health crises she said were related to repressed trauma over the incident, said she was asked to leave the MCR due to her illnesses when she was in her 40s, and returned home with nothing.

“My parents obviously paid for my career, [the MCR] never paid for anything. They asked me for money,” she said, “I started my professional career much later.”

When she finally left, Duque said she asked, “How am I going to go back to my parents’ house like this? Sick as I was at 40 years old, and my parents were in their 70s. Elderly and poor, what are they going to do with me? I need to help them at this age.”

Duque said she had no money and had to borrow from family friends until she was able to get on her feet.

“Marta,” who was diagnosed with an arrythmia during her two years in formation, said the MCR did not want to pay for initial diagnostic testing on grounds they had no money.

When she finally left, she said, “I returned [home], also without any help from the MCR. I had a heart operation because the arrythmia was malignant, and to this day I take pills every day.”

Compensation

Former members of the MCR say they want compensation for not only the lack of opportunity to study and incomplete careers, but also for the psychological and emotional abuse they say they endured.

“They never took care of their people, always asking the families to take responsibility for the damage they created,” one former member said. “There is no God here.”

Another former member said she wants compensation for psychological abuse and the cost of therapy both in community and after, saying, “I want justice for victims…One thing for sure is the therapy they made us pay for!”

“It was never the community’s fault. Always the persons with ‘psychological problems and health issues,’” she said. Many former members confirmed that when a crisis happened and members were sent to a psychologist and, often, medicated, it was always portrayed as their problem or personal weakness.

Another former member said, “I really just want justice and reparation to be done, and now I have the strength to do it.”

Former members said they also want the SCV, which effectively governed the MCR in its initial years, with Figari serving as superior general until 2011, to provide compensation for abuses.

Rocio Figueroa, a founding member of the MCR and former general coordinator who left after facing pressure over efforts to sound the alarm on abuse, said she wants former members to be compensated, including women, such as Duque, who were sexually abused by SCV members.

RELATED: Ex-members of women’s branch of troubled Peru movement say abuse was widespread

Figueroa, who said she will need to be on medication to treat the PTSD she developed as a result of her sexual abuse by a Sodalit while inside the MCR, said she also wants compensation for members for physical and psychological abuse and the lack of careers and studies.

“We have to pay medicines, therapy, and we need compensation for pensions we never received,” she said.

Former member “Samantha,” along with her husband, a former SCV member, said they suffered psychological abuse and “moral damage.” She said they have to pay for expensive medical treatment for conditions that developed during their time in community.

“Within ‘moral damage’ is, for example, the fact that many of us were unable to have children, some because they were too old [when they left], others because it took them years to recover,” she said.

In terms of compensation, former members said they want the cost of medications and psychological therapy covered, as well as reparation for the treatment of physical conditions as a result of emotional or psychological stress.

They also asked for payment of pensions for the time they were in the MCR, and compensation for, in many cases, salaries not received, or which were only partially paid, as well as pension contributions and benefits.

Some ex-members, however, aren’t interesting in taking the community’s money.

Former member Carmen told Crux she was psychologically abused by Sodalits from the time she joined the CLM and while discerning with the MCR.

“I lived through very difficult times in formation…to this day I have nightmares of horror,” she said, adding that when she left the community, “They didn’t even give me a return ticket.”

“Today I don’t want even one cent of that dirty money. I don’t criticize whoever needs it, that’s a personal decision,” she said, but said she will not ask for anything.

Earlier this year the MCR opened an official channel for those who wish to make complaints, and the Archdiocese of Lima has also opened its own listening channel for the MCR.

In a statement to Crux, the MCR voiced its “deep sorrow and compassion with the women who have suffered abuse in their experience in our community and in the context of the Sodalit family.”

“We share their sorrow, and we are deeply sorry for everything that each one of them and their families have suffered and are still suffering,” they said, saying they reject “all abuses committed.”

The MCR, which has distanced itself from the SCV and pursued extensive reform efforts in recent years to change their internal culture, also asked former members’ forgiveness “for our inability to understand the enormity of their pain in a timely fashion, thus revictimizing many of them.”

“We are moving forward with the appropriate investigations and procedures regarding the reports that have been received by our institutional channel and we will cooperate with those that arrive through other channels, to establish personal and institutional responsibilities,” they said.

The community said they will assume responsibility “for the wounds of so many, caused by the unhealthy institutional culture which has been present in the Marian Community of Reconciliation, offering reparation for what may be mended.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen