To our families,
former members and their families,
friends, benefactors, and
people close to our community
Lima, June 24th, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It has been two and a half years since our First General Assembly and midway through our governance, we can say that it has been a time with many challenges. One of the most significant challenges has been to continue examining the history of our institution and to come to a greater consciousness of the culture we had lived in, in which values such as obedience, freedom, unselfishness, and self-denial, among others, were seriously distorted.
Looking back into our history, we can recognize how the misuse of power had led to a series of deviations from many essential elements of the Christian and consecrated life. Today, we can recognize from a distance, and with greater consciousness that we have suffered and replicated the misuse of authority, which has caused profound pains in many people. Amid all difficulty, we perceive the loving and healing action of God who in his mercy and fidelity keeps calling us to give ourselves to Him.
The external help that we had received over the past years and listening to our own stories have allowed us to look at ourselves from other angles and to become more conscious of the abuse of power and conscience that we had lived in our community. Though there is still a long way to go, we discovered the need and the commitment to initiate a profound reformation and to build a more solid foundation that promotes a good, free and healthy consecrated life, which enables us to give an authentic testimony to the Gospel to whom we serve.
Therefore, even though we are aware that this is one step of the long journey to healing that we have started in ourselves, along with our families, people who are closed to our community, and those sisters and their families who cross paths with us, with greater consciousness and deep sorrow, we want to ask forgiveness from the depths of our hearts for the pain that we caused, for the abusive actions that the members had gone through in the community, for the delay in expressing it, and for not knowing how to take care of your suffering in the appropriate time and manner.
We also want to thank each of you, who in good faith, have sought different ways to help and contributed to this process that we are living today. Thank you for your company and patience, and for the confidence to share your experiences with us, and thus embark on new ways of communion and change.
The internal process is heartbreaking and we see the responsibility to keep making progress with the decisions and actions taken in this first stage:
- Receive a more integral formation (external instructors) that helps us to be more conscious of what we had lived, practiced, and suffered. Also, make a plan to build a culture of respect and good manner, to maintain a healthy relationship of trust, dialogue, and joint responsibility.
- Form the current authorities and those who help in the initial formation and provide external advisers to the formators of initial formation. This formation seeks an interior transformation to serve with charity and mercy.
- Offer the necessary conditions for one to improve self-knowledge and vocational discernment.
- Initiate the work of revision and implementation of the abuse prevention protocol, of which we now have the first draft of the protocol.
- Implement an independent commission (called “Comisión de Atención y Acogida” which can be translated as “Commission for Attention and Reception”) which has already started to attend our members within the community in its first stage. Now, we want to make this commission available to the public, to meet those who are in need to be heard or want to give their testimonies or denounce. The Commission will investigate everything that needs to be clarified and redressed.[1] The commission is presided by Isabelle Soublette[2], whose email is:
atencionyacogida.testimonios@siervasdelplandedios.org
Furthermore, we are thankful for the accompaniment of the Church, who by the Canonical Visit in progress has been enlightening and helping us. We are waiting for their conclusions and the decision of the Archbishop of Lima, to proceed on our journey of institutional growth and strengthening.
We entrust ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Heart full of love and mercy that heals our wounds and teaches us to embrace suffering hearts.
We ask for your prayers so that the Lord gives us the strength and courage to keep walking in the truth and charity that only comes from Him.
Kindly and fraternally in Christ,
Natalia Sánchez Hincapié
General Superior
Servants of the Plan of God
[1]This does not replace the mechanism to receive denouncements established by Archdiocese of Lima: comisionescucha@arzobispadodelima.org
[2]Clinical psychologist with experience in attending victims of abuse. Nationality Chile.