(MEXICO)
Los Ángeles Press [Ciudad de México, Mexico]
January 6, 2025
By Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez
Based on the story of Myriam, the Mexican nun who bravely denounced sexual abuse, Breaking the silence is a gift to our readers.
Although Breaking the Silence includes three previously published texts on sexual abuse from Los Ángeles Press, it also features two new chapters and an unpublished introduction.
Breaking the silence is a bilingual, English-Spanish electronic book reporting on Myriam’s case while summarizing information about one of the most specific forms of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the abuse of nuns by priests.
Back in September 2024, the legal team supporting a Mexican nun, a victim of repeated sexual abuse, provided me with the electronic case file detailing her harrowing experience, as it stood then. Reading the file was a profoundly distressing experience.
Although I had previously encountered judicial narratives linked to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, Myriam’s story shocked me deeply. The repeated abuse she endured—not by one but several priests—was devastating. Equally disturbing was the dismissive attitude of Church leaders involved in the case. Even other nuns failed to empathize with or support Myriam, compounding her isolation and suffering.
Writing this bilingual, English and Spanish, electronic book has been an immensely painful process. This book recounts Myriam’s story and illustrates how the Roman Catholic Church is facing a profound moral and institutional crisis, a reality starkly evident as I write these lines in the final days of 2024.
Myriam’s story exemplifies the systemic failure of the Church to address sexual abuse within its ranks. Beginning at age 15, in the mid-1990s, Myriam suffered abuse at the hands of multiple clergy members, including then-seminarian and now-former priest Francisco Javier Albores Teco, as well as current priest Demetrio Vargas Gómez.
At no point did Myriam’s demeanor provoke or instigate these attacks. Her only crime has been her loyalty, her obedience, to her Church, but even on that charge one has to go over the references she makes to her upbringing. How her mother was willing to put bishops, priests, and even seminarians on pedestals.
The abuse began when she visited the offices of vocations in the then-diocese, now archdiocese, of Tuxtla Gutiérrez to explore her calling to become a nun—a dream she eventually pursued. Her resilience in enduring repeated assaults underscores the vulnerability of nuns within the Church, the apathy of the Church hierarchy, and the systemic nature of such abuse.
Behind every victim of clergy sexual abuse lies a pattern of cover-ups and inaction by Church leaders. Myriam’s male superiors, including the archbishop of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the founder of her order, and its general vicar, repeatedly dismissed or minimized her reports. Even her female superiors disregarded her pleas for justice. This reflects a deeply entrenched culture of denial and complicity within the Church.
Church leaders frequently deflect responsibility by casting themselves as victims of anti-Catholic conspiracies. Marcial Maciel, for example, staged false assassination attempts to portray himself as a victim of “communist” plots—a tactic still employed today, albeit with feminists or advocates of gender theory labeled as adversaries. Such strategies conveniently politicize criticism and delay meaningful responses to abuse.
The consequences of this neglect are devastating. Myriam continues to suffer from the effects of sexually transmitted diseases, multiple strokes, and ongoing psychological trauma. Her case exemplifies the severe, long-lasting impact of sexual abuse on victims and highlights the urgent need for systemic change within the Church.
Tragically, Myriam’s case is not unique. Her file includes testimonies of other instances of abuse within her order and the broader Church, indicating a widespread pattern of exploitation and cover-up. This pervasive issue demands comprehensive reform, accountability, and transparency within the Church.
This book serves two primary purposes: first, to help Myriam and other victims break the silence surrounding clergy sexual abuse, and second, to advocate for a culture of accountability within the Church. Rocío Figueroa Alvear, a former leader of the female branch of the Sodalitium of Christian Life, has long emphasized the importance of “breaking the silence.” Hence this book’s title.
Figueroa’s scholarship, available in both English and Spanish, documents how the Roman Catholic Church’s power structures, as they are now, facilitate the enabling and concealing of abuse. You can watch a brief summary of Figueroa’s take on the issue, in English, at Voices of Faith’s YouTube channel, linked after this paragraph.
There are far more videos from her in Spanish. One from 2023, having a conversation with Pedro Salinas, the author of a book key to understand what has happened with the Sodalitium, is available after this paragraph, but a simple search there and in other websites offers other videos in her mother tongue.
Figueroa’s and other former nuns’ work, alongside journalistic investigations into the Sodalitium and other orders, reveals that abuse is not a series of isolated incidents but a systemic issue characterized by identifiable patterns replicated across countries and contexts. Her own experience—facing disbelief, false accusations, and discrediting campaigns—mirrors what Myriam is enduring in her fight for justice in Mexico. This culture of silence forced Figueroa out of her order and perpetuates abuse within the Church.
Although a limited investigation into the Sodalitium eventually validated Figueroa’s claims and led to the expulsion of a dozen leaders of that order, there is little hope for similar outcomes in Myriam’s case. The culture of silence remains deeply entrenched in Chiapas and Mexico at large, shielding abusers and silencing victims.
By sharing her case file, Myriam took a courageous step toward breaking this silence. Her fight sheds light on her own suffering while encouraging other victims in Mexico and across Latin America to come forward. Breaking the silence, as Figueroa and others have urged, is a crucial step toward justice and institutional change.
Mexican and Latin American bishops have shown little interest in addressing this issue proactively. True justice for victims needs a culture and institutional designs prone to truth and transparency, able to hear and believe victims, and able to hold abusers accountable.
This book is Myriam’s call to action and a testament to Rocio Figueroa’s, and Doris Reisinger’s, and many other nuns’ and former nuns’ bravery. It seeks to help a broader movement toward justice, accountability, and the protection of vulnerable individuals within and beyond the Church.
You can download the book at Scribd.