Nuns live in cloister; they wear a habit that goes almost to their ankles; they don’t go out at night unless there is medical emergency; they don’t go to parties and consume alcohol. They’ve made a vow of chastity that they think make them freer and happier. Because it’s a FREE choice, they defend it with all the means available to them.
All women have the right to
freely say no without being intimidated, raped, or murdered for it. Indian
version of “#Me Too” is another available self-defense weapon when it comes to
their protection.
The Catholic Church,
which has yet to meaningfully address
cases of sexual abuse throughout the world for years, must now face a new class
of people speaking out about sexual abuse within the church: nuns emboldened by
the #MeToo movement. There
has been a recent increase in nuns sharing stories of abuse inflicted by priests, and some say that they have held onto these secrets for decades.
The experience of nuns who were
sexually abused and raped is similar to all victims of clergy sexual
abuse. The church hierarchy does
nothing. They hide, dismiss and excuse sexual abuse. Nuns, women, children are, not different in the eyes of church
hierarchy who are more interested in their reputation than the safety of those
who might be victims.
“#Me Too” heaven-sent
“#Me Too” is not a movement of
a few who started it. It became such as a heaven-sent blessing in the
hands of women folks exploited by a patriarchal society to satisfy their base
sexual cravings. In the case of nuns it is now
becoming an effective tool to use it to defend justice and gender equality
Jesus preached and practiced, yes
Jesus alone whom they want and bear witness to especially in the midst of poor
marginalized sections of society.
This is not a war between men
and women, authority and subordinates but a fight against injustice for the
weak, downtrodden and helpless, called the ‘better half’ but the worst off, in
society everywhere. In
Franco Mulakkal’s case, God is really exposing the demons for who they really
are. God is answering the
prayers of the righteous self-effacing Sisters responding to their cries for
mercy and deliverance.
Congrats to CCV
James, you as editor of CCV
have exposed it forcefully in several of your articles in ccv(congrats!)
praising sky high the self-effacing slavish work done by sisters as the sole
glory of the Catholic church and condemning the criminal silence and cover up
by over 200 Indian bishops. Equally you congratulated Bishop Bharanikkulangara
for his valiant public declaration, supporting the sit-in strike of six Sisters
and apologizing to the laity for the scandal from among some of his brother
bishops.
Cases of abused nuns have
emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. They say both sexual abuse
and the abuse of authority occurred inside their Congregation and how they were
mistreated when they reported incidents to their superiors. These cases demonstrate the problem is global and all pervasive,
due to the sisters’ second-class status in the church and their ingrained subservience to the men who run the
show. But now Sisters are going public, partly to denounce years of inaction by
the senior leadership within the Catholic Church.
Reaction to Clericalism
This is a telling reaction
to the philosophical arrogance of priests called “clericalism” denounced time
and again by Pope Francis. This means the clerics preach, and consider
themselves nearer to God and therefore everyone else is beneath them. For
instance, you might hear, Bishop Franco is a very kind bishop and a servant of
God, and on that basis, they ask the rest of us: “how dare you accuse him of
sexual abuse!”
When we go through religious
doctrine and law, the male clerical class has
virtually unchecked power over others. There
a condition is being created for sexual assault and exploitation of children
and women. This is compounded by the very structure that does practically
nothing to hold itself and its leaders accountable. And without tremendous
public pressure and exposure, the abusers will never be expelled from the
priesthood, let alone punished or domesticated.
Confessional, to commit sin,
not forgive!
The place of confession should
be a place of salvation, freedom and mercy. But many women were assaulted or brainwashed during confession to
become subservient. Because of this
experience, confessionals have become a place of sin, not a place to get rid of
one’s sins and abuse of power.
All along Nuns felt silenced by
the Church’s culture of secrecy, their vows of obedience and their own fear of
repulsion and shame. Vatican says that it's up to local churches to punish
priests who have sexually abused nuns. If the abuser is the bishop himself (fence eating the crop) who
will punish him? In order to destabilize
power structures that protect abusers, the first step is empowering survivors
to come forward even more boldly against abusers using #Me Too non-violent
verbal protest to shame them.
Legitimate Question?
Why the nun raped, didn’t
report soon after the first abuse, may be a genuine question. The answer is
fear and shame. But we all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling
the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence for
generations allowing men to hurt women with impunity. The “#MeToo” movement is
a brave and courageous step for creating awareness and it is a beacon of hope
for those condemned to drown in the sea of silence and cover-up which has
become the hall mark and ugly face of the Catholic Church all over the world.
In the face of it all, what do
we the silent majority, the laity, also called the sleeping giant? What these
#Me too, sisters are telling us is this: “Lead, follow or get out of the way!”
Wake up therefore my country men – when I say country men, I mean the whole
world, as we are supposed to be “world Citizens” like Jesus — if we are his
followers. I suggest, every woman and man
should come out with her/his #MeToo experience with the clerical class, in one
or two sentences at least.
If we don’t do even this, it
means we are not prepared to take even a small step we easily can. If you
refuse to do even this then: stop calling yourself a follower of
the Crazy Nazarene forthwith — Yes, “crazy and immature’ were the labels his
contemporaries used” to refer to him — he instead called them ‘Hypocrites and
white-washed sepulchers’. Stop keeping silent, stop talking and complaining in
private, start acting here and now!
