Kerala nun alleges sexual harassment in convents

T’PURAM: As a tell-all autobiography
of a former nun revealing alleged sexual abuse threatened
to embarrass the Catholic church in Kerala, the woman
herself said on Friday society has “every right”
to know what is happening to Sisters.

In her memoirs in Malayalam titled “Amen”
(so be it, said by Christians at the end of every prayer),
‘Sister’ Jesme alleged that harassment, sexual repression,
exploitation of nuns by priests and clandestine same
sex relations take place behind the closed doors of
convents.

The Catholic Church is silent on the book and is yet
to make its official response to the tell-all reminiscences
of the 52-year-old Jesme holding they would react only
after studying the book. But the book released two days
ago is being lapped up and selling like hotcakes.

Narrating how deeply disappointed and disillusioned
she is after choosing the religious vocation on her
own volition at a very young age, Jesme exposes the
power struggles in the ‘dark confines’ of convents she
had lived for about 30 years and in corridors of church
administration.

An English professor and later the Principal of a church-run
college in Thrissur, Jesme quit the convent last year
after what she said years of ‘sufferings and struggles.’
“I wanted an outlet for my experiences of my trauma…Society
has every right to know what is happening to Sisters,”
Jesme said dismissing suggestions she has sensationalised
issues to get cheap publicity.

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