Catholic Nuns In India Enduring Clergy Sex Abuse For Decades

Nuns of Kochi in Kerala, India, in a protest march,
seeking justice for the alleged rape of a
fellow nun by Bishop Franco Mulakkal (Sept. 11, 2018) 

Photo courtesy: PTI via www.dnaindia.com/

Nuns in India are speaking out. They are speaking about certain members of the Catholic clergy (priests and bishops) who have been abusing nuns for years, even decades. 

The latest Associated Press (AP) report speaks of this in detail. It says, "Across India, the nuns talk of priests who pushed [them] into their bedrooms and of priests who pressured them to turn close friendships into sex. They talk about being groped and kissed, of hands pressed against them by men they were raised to believe were representatives of Jesus Christ."

The AP report continues, "'He was drunk,' said one nun, beginning her story. 'You don't know how to say no,' said another. At its most grim, the nuns speak of repeated rapes, and of a Catholic hierarchy that did little to protect them."

"The Vatican has long been aware of nuns sexually abused by priests and bishops in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa, but it has done very little to stop it, The Associated Press reported last year."

The AP, in its special investigation of a single country -- India --, uncovered "a decades-long history of nuns enduring sexual abuse from within the church." 

Does it sound deafening? Yes, but reality-wise, no. Where there is a sex organ, there is sexuality -- either active sexuality or repressed sexuality. Catholic celibate priests are supposed to live repressed sexuality -- an asexual life, but in reality, it is not so. Celibacy and sexual chastity of the clergy, although hammered into our ears all the time by the Church teaching, have been proven to be a fiction in the two-thousand-year history of the Catholic Church. A lie about these 'men of God,' or 'representatives of Christ,' or 'alter Christus' (the other Christ) is being propagated in a resounding voice without taking the reality of human life into consideration. 

Pope Francis, therefore, on his January 28 return journey to Rome from Panama, spoke to reporters aboard his plane and said: "We have to deflate the expectations [from the Feb. 21-24 world gathering of bishops in Rome dealing with clergy sex abuse of minors] ... because the problem of abuse will continue because it is a human problem, and it is everywhere."  He further said, "It is a human drama that we have to be conscious of, even us, resolving the problem in the Church, but also in society, in families." 

Please read the following for more on the situation of  nuns in India and some other countries:

• Nuns in India tell AP of enduring abuse in Catholic Church (Jan. 2, 2019)
• Nuns in India tell of long history of abuse at the hands of priests (Jan. 2, 2019)
• The AP blows the lid off decades-long sexual abuse of nuns by Catholic priests in India (Jan. 2, 2019)
• The Indian scandal no one wants to talk about: Decades of nuns being abused by Catholic priests (Jan. 2, 2019)
• Indian nuns Detail Systematic Abuse From Priests (Jan. 3, 2019)
• Call It Hierarchical High Horse Disease! Four Kerala Nuns Transferred To God-Forsaken Places. Why? (Jan. 17, 2019)
• Kerala nun rape case: Allow us to live in convent, protesting nuns appeal to Pinarayi Vijayan against transfer (Jan. 19, 2019)
• Kerala, nuns demand the protection of the Chief Minister (Jan. 21, 2019)
• Open Letter to Nuncio Against Arbitrary & Coercive Transfer Order of Four Kerala Nuns (Jan. 24, 2019)
• Open Letter to Indian Catholic Hierarchy: US Kerala Catholic Church Reform Movement (KCRMNA) to Indian Bishops (Jan. 28, 2019)
• Vatican investigates after news report sex abuse by priests (Dec. 7, 2018)
• India's Jalandhar Bishop Mulakkal Arrested For Alleged Serial Rape Of A Nun (Sept. 21, 2018)
• MeToo in India: Catholic nuns stand with sister accusing bishop of rape (Sept. 11, 2018)
• After decades of silence, nuns talk about abuse by priests [in different countries] (July 27, 2018)
• Vatican meets #MeToo: Nuns denounce their abuse by priests [in different countries] (July 27, 2018)
• Vatican confirms report of sexual abuse and rape of nuns by priests in 23 countries (April 28, 2018)
• Vatican confirms nun's reports of sexual exploitation by priests [in different countries]  (March 21, 2001)
• Reports of Abuse: AIDS exacerbates sexual exploitation of nuns, reports allege [In Africa] (March 16, 2001)
• The Problem of the Sexual Abuse of African Religious In Africa and In Rome (Nov. 20, 1998)
• Vatican magazine denounces sexual abuse of nuns by priests (Feb. 1, 2019)
• Vatican women's magazine condemns sexual abuse of nuns by priests (Feb. 1, 2019)
• Pope Acknowledges Nuns Were Sexually Abused by Priests and Bishops (Feb. 5, 2019)
• Vatican clarifies pope's comments on sexual abuse of women religious (Feb. 6, 2019)

(Updated on February 8, 2019)