A chat between former students of the Casp Jesuit College, in Barcelona, has revived the ghost of Sex Penis, as the students nicknamed a counselor and religion professor at this academic center, playing with his real name. A letter in response to the former students' complaint identifies the accused as "the Jesuit Francesc Peris", who is currently 81 years old and lives in retirement in Manresa.
The response letter, which shares "the concern and indignation" caused by the events, is signed by Maite Andreu, director general of Jesuits Casp, Esteve Moragas, director general of Jesuits Education, and Enric Puiggros, provincial of the Society of Jesus in Spain and delegate of Jesuits Catalonia. The three assure that Francesc Peris "already figured in our reports and had measures imposed".
This religious was in the school from the seventies until 2015, when he was sent to Paraguay. For 30 years (and except for a period between 1982 and 1983, stationed in Bolivia) he worked with adolescent and preadolescent students. In addition to his habit of locking himself in with students in his office, he was known because he gave a seminar on sex education (that's where the nickname was born) and organized camps.
Students from the class of 1997 opened a chat to reconnect and prepare to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary. They were in the middle of exchanging messages when they were surprised by an article in El País about alleged abuses by Jesuits in Bolivia. One of those mentioned was precisely Francesc Peris. "The chat began to boil from that moment," explains one of its members.
Numerous people, especially women, explained what had happened to them or what other colleagues of Francesc Peris had told them. That was the germ of the letter that 234 former students sent to the school and the Society of Jesus. The chat was initially limited to students from 97, "but we all have younger or older siblings" and among the signatories there are already "from thirty-somethings to sixty-year-olds."
Many of the complainants are today parents who take their children to the same school on Casp Street. Other former students lament the damage that the center where they studied may suffer due to the behavior of a religious. Both decided to adhere to the statement of their colleagues because they understood that the response that the defendant has received so far "has been very lukewarm," an attitude that will now change.
Among the people who explained her case is a woman who admits that even today she does not know why she did not report it. She was blocked, she has explained to her friends. The facts that have been appearing in the chat are less serious than those denounced in Bolivia, "if degrees of seriousness can be established in such a degrading matter", but they could give rise to legal actions because not all of them have prescribed.
Francesc Peris had a reputation as a progressive and a strong spirituality. Sometimes, with the excuse of feeling communion with God, he "asked his victims to take off their shirts and groped them," says a former student. These statements and the information that appeared in the press, assures the college, "motivate a new review of the case." A few words from the suspect now take on a new meaning in 2022.
On that occasion, before the storm broke, a group of former students made a publication with contributions from former teachers. One of those consulted was the protagonist of this news. His full response can be seen above, but one of his reflections is striking: "I apologize for the mistakes I have made over so many years, I'm sorry, surely now I would act differently."
Representatives of the Company, the school and the 234 signatories of the letter will meet next Monday. The center recalls that those who want to provide more information on this or any other case have at their disposal the email proteccion@jesuitas.es, although it understands that for "some people it is difficult to directly contact the institution where the events occurred". .
These reluctant victims, adds the school, can contact external and independent entities, such as the Vicki Bernadet Foundation, which fights against child sexual abuse, if they prefer. "We do not want to feed the morbidity or cause unnecessary damage to the institution, but we are encouraged to write the letter of complaint because we find it incredible that a person like this could act with impunity for 30 years."
These are the words of one of the signatories, who recalls that Francesc Peris was denounced in 2021 before the Vatican "and more than two years later there has not been a firm and public statement of condemnation by the Society of Jesus or the school" . Many signatories acknowledge that they are overwhelmed by the media repercussions of their step forward, but they insist on one fact: "We have nothing to hide."
This is not a case, say the complainants, “for canon law, but for ordinary justice. Why was it not acted on earlier? Why was the defendant transferred to other countries? Were his destinations alerted? We want to know how many victims there are and we demand that they be redressed ”. The Society of Jesus began in 2018 "a process of reviewing the past, creating communication channels for victims or testimonies."
One of the alleged victims took advantage of these channels to send a letter about his case five years ago and met up to three times with the representatives of the congregation, but the case did not go further. "I'm exhausted", she has explained herself now. The Jesuit delegate in Catalonia, Enric Puiggròs, has now stated: "We want to clarify the truth (...) and, if we see facts constituting a crime, we will act forcefully."
