Catholic Church Stung by Autobiography Recounting Harassment and Abuse
By Andrew Buncombe
Independent (United Kingdom)
February 20, 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/former-nun-tells-of-sex-and -suffering-inside-indian-convent-1627077.html
A former nun's tell-all story which details illicit relationships, sexual harassment and bullying in the convent where she spent three decades is causing ructions in the Catholic Church in the south Indian state of Kerala.
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| Kerala nuns at prayer. An ex-nun who wrote about life in a Kerala convent says she fears for those still living there |
In Amen – an autobiography of a nun, Sister Jesme says when she became a nun she discovered priests were forcing novices to have sex with them. There were also secret homosexual relationships among the nuns and at one point she was forced into such a relationship by another nun who told her she preferred this kind of arrangement as it ruled out the possibility of pregnancy.
"I did not want to make this book controversial. I want to express my feelings and to explain what happened to me... I want people to know how I have suffered," she told The Independent last night, speaking from the town of Kozhikode. "People say that everything is OK, but I was in the convent and I want them to know what goes on. I have concerns for others."
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