The stories just get worse and worse. The Catholic priesthood hasn’t just been abusing children in various places, but also has a history of abuse of women, especially in Africa and India.
The crisis of religious abuse in Africa and India was brought to Rome’s attention in 1998 when a four-page paper titled “The Problem of the Sexual Abuse of African Religious in Africa and Rome” was presented by Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa. A March 2001 National Catholic Reporter article detailed McDonald’s claims, which included accounts of sexual abuse by priests and bishops.
McDonald quoted a vicar general in one African diocese who talked “quite openly” in Rome in 1996 about celibacy in Africa, saying, “Celibacy in the African context means a priest does not get married, but does not mean he does not have children.”
The AIDS pandemic in Africa and India is said to have made nuns “safer” sex partners and, also for that reason, targets of priests seeking sex. (Some nuns also reported sexual abuse by mothers superior.) The women, culturally brainwashed not to challenge men or female figures of authority, felt they had no choice, and the priests took further advantage by arguing that Catholic rules for priests required them to have sex “only with virgins.”
More allegations came from Sister Jesme, an ex-nun from the Indian state of Kerala, who told of sexual abuse and forced homosexual relationships in a 2009 autobiography. But when the book was released, a spokesman for the Syro-Malabar order of the Catholic Church in India dismissed it as a “book of trivialities.”
“It’s her experiences,” he said, “but these are things that might creep into a society of communal living.” He added that the church would not be shocked by the allegations, concluding, “The church knows about these things.”
I’m pretty sure Catholic dogma does not say priests are allowed to have sex with virgins, so on the one hand, this is clearly a bunch of exploiters in clerical collars going well off the reservation; on the other hand, these abuses were plainly spelled out to the Vatican, which seems to have responded with its well-practiced negligence.
Of course, another factor might be that, just as is the case in remote Inuit villages, running a diocese in Africa or India is probably a high-profit-margin affair. The Vatican patriarchy might see little to gain in helping women.
*More allegations came from Sister Jesme, an ex-nun from the Indian state of Kerala, who told of sexual abuse and forced homosexual relationships in a 2009 autobiography.*
Oh man, now all my Asian lesbian S&M fantasies have been *ruined*!
Missing a “not,” isn’t it?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Ok:
Bible: check
lesbians: check
bacon: ????
Well, there’s one department the catholic church doesn’t disappoint in: sheer loathsomeness.
I lived in a communal situation at one time. I can most definitely say that rape was not something that “creeped in”. Ugh, what a…again, words fail me. I don’t know nasty enough words to describe this type of thinking.
Any institution that prevents women from taking leadership roles and treats women as nothing more than pretty baby machines or penguin mascots is of course abusing women. The Catholic church is nothing more than a blight on the history of humanity. It needs to be dissolved.
Oh, that’s all soooo passé. Remember, the Pope wrote a letter, and since the next day nothing bad ever happened in the Church ever again.
At least, nothing bad that can’t be swept under the carpet until it’s totally out of date.
Check back in two or three decades, and you’ll see that… once again, critics will be accused of dragging old stories up and nagging the righteos Catholica with their petty gossip. “Pshaw, who cares about what happened in 2010, this is 2040, you church haters never have any actually important stuff to show”.
aratina cage:
No question. The more I read, though, the less satisfactory I find a dissolution. I’d settle for it, but I’d dearly like to see these excuses for human beings pay.
I read this as nun rappers at first.
Not sure which is worse.
More and more it appears priestly celibacy is honored in the breach. Plus the Vatican knows but doesn’t really care unless they have to pay money or lose power and prestige.
Priests are only allowed to marry virgins or other priests widows. So, it is kind of biblical, if not Catholic.
Ezekiel 44:22 – They [priests] must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests.
Well, that would certainly be a first. After all, the Vatican patriarchy has devoted itself pretty much exclusively to “helping” women for centuries.
Damn! You mean Jack Chick and “Brother Albert” were right all along? (That’s like, the cherry on top of this shit sundae).
Glen Davidson wrote:
Assuming you mean in reference to “…running a diocese in Africa or India is probably a high-profit-margin affair…” then no, it’s not missing any words. Doing “humanitarian” work like that brings in more contributions to the church than it actually costs to run them. Therefore high profit margins.
The Church acts like all it’s really bad days are behind it. But hearing this, it’s enough to make you wish for the Borgias and Medicis and Cardinal Richlieus again: When popes and cardinals would *proudly* do the deed with CONSENTING. ADULT. WOMEN.
I mean, one of my favorite books is the “Decameron”, a book of 100 short stories from the 15th century, maybe a third of which are about horny priests and nuns. It’s friggin’ hilarious stuff. But this . . . this shit is bad like year-old milk.
It’s like for centuries, the church preached celibacy and abstinence, but was never too serious about enforcing it (which is bad enough, I suppose). But then maybe 200-300 years ago, they decided their own craziest ideas where actually TRUE and so they decided to actually try and live up to their own stupid ideals. And since they can’t–celibacy doesn’t actually WORK*–their brains borked and they did this horrid shit.
*And to answer people who want to say, “Yes it does!” I counter-argue, “No, it doesn’t.”
The problem is clearly homosexuality — er, heterosexuality — er, secularism — er, loose women! These were bad nuns who were seducing men of God and forcing them to rape, just like those rotten kids who won’t keep their mouths shut.
(The above is angry sarcasm, BTW.)
Nuns abused by priests, or their own mother superiors, and unable to make their plight heard by Church hierarchy? Shades of The Memoirs of a Nun (in French, La Religieuse), a novel written in 1780 by Denis Diderot, philosopher of the Enlightenment, who didn’t dare to publish it during his lifetime. The book has been scandalous ever since. A movie adaptation, in 1966, was even censured by the French government in answer to Catholic furore. For several years, it could only be shown in X-rated theaters. An absurdity, because the film is not graphic in its depiction of sexual exploitation.
But it was still too close for confort for the good church-goers, I guess!
Where? The post Pee Zed linked to makes clear that remote Inuit dioceses are high-profit affairs: They don’t cost much to run, but the sheeple elsewhere are duped into donating again and again and again to help those remote villagers. The villagers may need help, but they don’t get much (if any) from the mafia.
That scam reminds me of the Alias Ron Kavana song Pennies for Black Babies (on the Coming Days album (1995)). Unfortunately, I can’t find either the lyrics or the full audio on the ‘Net.
Now why would a body go to see a film called “Memoirs of a Nun” if it *wasn’t* x-rated?
Ray Moscow:
That’s the ticket. It’s women. It’s always women. Walkin’ around with girly bits and birthin’ sexy babies and all. Started with that wench Eve and Lilith didn’t help matters at all.
As penance?
As for the church in Africa, don’t forget about the involvement of Catholic priests in the Rwandan genocide. Such as Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who was smuggled out of the country by French priests, and subsequently found guilty in absentia of rape and aiding the militias. Or Bishop Augustin Misago, of whom Hitchens writes in God is Not Great:
Yeah, the church has been really good for Rwanda.
More and more it appears priestly celibacy is honored in the breach.
somewhat off topic, but I thought this analysis of the quote “more honoerd in the breach than the observance” was interesting.
Well, that is the original definition of the word. So it would seem that the RCC has one thing right. Wrong on every other count, though.
*As penance?*
Mmm, maybe. I’ve never totally been comfortable with nun-themed erotica. Schoolgirls (Catholic or Japanese), cheerleaders, nurses, lifeguards, librarians/teachers, lonely housewives: These all “work” as tropes of dirtiness. But nuns? Somehow not.
Love the blog and I’m all for creative writing, but the use of the phrase “off the reservation” is in poor taste.
If you got ’em, we’ll sexually exploit ’em…
Signed, the Roman Catholic Priesthood.
@ Berkys #14: Actually, Richelieu lived in the time of Counter-Reformation, when the RCC enforced more strongly than before celibacy and chastity in the clergy. And the cardinal, far from his litterary portrayal, did actually keep his vows. There was never even a serious rumor about him and a woman, or man, or boy, or even sheep!
As for the Borgias, they lived around 1500, a long time after the period when Catholic priests could have sex without shame and secrecy. But as often, there was in the Church a rule for everybody, and another one for people of high nobility. The Borgias were aristocrats first and foremost.
If one wants to see the RCC come back to a more relaxed view of sex, one should go back to before 1215, before the IVth Council of the Lateran made it an article of Canonic law that priests weren’t allowed to marry. Before that, only monks and nuns took vows to stay chaste. (At some times and in some places, there were also religious communities where men and women lived together and practiced what we would call free love, but Church authorities regularly condemned them as heretical.)
Not exactly nun rape, but a nun I once knew here in Ontario was excommunicated from the Catholic church, not because she was having sex with the local bishop, but because she got angry that he was having an affair with another nun (in addition to herself), and so she called him out on it during mass.
Ok, not the most politically correct method, but hey, they moved that bishop to a different area too, since everyone in town then knew about his er… habits. Which he probably took up in his new location, with nobody knowing anything else. The ex-nun went on to make a fortune scamming people with pirated satellite dish cards.
Oh great, now they’ll be claiming the nun-raping priests are gay.
X-D
“Consenting” is difficult to judge when such imbalances of power are involved.
Me, I think that this doesn’t have to be a big deal. It’s all in how you spin it, right?
The Holy Catholic Church: Equal Opportunity Offenders Since 100 CE
Then it seems the Catholic church has been infiltrated by non-Catholics who are neither representative of Catholicism, nor of the teachings of Christ.
I saw “nun rappers” too.
Hail Mary full of grace the Lord be with thee!
I spit in the Almighty name of Jay-C!
Ain’t nothin’ better than being back in the habit,
Blaspheme and I’ll rap your knuckles, God Dammit!
I dunno, I think it could work.
I’ve heard about the exploitatin of nuns in Africa by priests, but not about India.
When I first read the header, I read Nun-rappers and thought “what kind of music would nun-rappers sing?”
I remember watching a recruitment video for priests on Youtube and one young recruit said he was joining the church because he wanted to be like Jesus. One wonders, if in becoming like Jesus, some of these men think they are above both secular and canonical law.
Or, Catholics are incapable of walking the walk.
But your conspiracy theory is good too. I mean, as long as we’re grasping at straws to defend a worldview…
I think “infiltrated” isn’t the right word. It seems to me like “led for years” might be a better fit. Let’s try it out:
Then it seems the Catholic church has been led for years by non-Catholics who are neither representative of Catholicism, nor of the teachings of Christ.
Yeah, that fits better.
Of course it’s the wimmin’s fault, if they were proper God-fearing wimmin they’d be cognisant of the fact that their shapeliness leads to sinful thoughts and would consider masking their shameful forms in some type of vestment that would hide their voluptuousness as well as, perhaps, their hair and faces. Don’t know what we’d call it though.
@berkys-
No way… nun porn is totally hot. Schoolgirls, to me, way too played out (and close to pedo). Likewise cheerleaders. Lifeguards evoke Baywatch, which 90% of the world thought was sexy but I beg to differ.
But I’ll take your nurses, librarians, teachers, & lonely housewives. Especially if they look like June Cleaver.
Meow…
@32: It seems that the Catholic Church has been composed of Catholics who represent Catholicism quite accurately but who were not prepared for the light of day to shine upon them.
Jesus, bless his little sacred heart, is dead, unless of course he never existed in the first place. Still, I’d like to think that he would be pissed off enough to thrash these mothersuperiorf*ckers like moneychangers.
These cases are not confined to Africa and India; several cases of (sexual) abuse by nuns have been uncovered in the Netherlands as well. Dutch newspaper NRC has more about this. I’ll (loosely) translate this quote for those who don’t speak Dutch: “One report mentions two German Carmelite (?) nuns forcing a five year old child to eat cold porridge […] the porridge being puked up, after which the nuns forced him to eat his own vomit […]. It also mentioned several cases of sexual abuse.
So, we’ve had priest raping children, nuns raping children, now priest raping nuns: now we just need stories about nuns raping priests, and the unholy trinit… quadrinity of religious people doing rapes instead of their job will be complete.
This could just be a BS story by my mother’s drunken uncle, but he claimed to have been an orderly in a Boston-area Catholic Hospital in the late 1940s and through the 1950’s. He claimed that the third Saturday of every month was set aside for all the nun abortions.
I’m still waiting for a story like this to break some day.
Off topic
Sign this petition:
http://ffrf.org/legal/national-day-of-prayer-victory/stop-the-national-day-of-prayer-petition/
I am even more disturbed that the nuns could hear this blatant bullshit and think it was true.
Note to the RCC: when your young women who go so far as to sign up for the habit still don’t know that the priests aren’t supposed to fuck them, you’re doing something wrong.
You know, anti-catholic prejudice is a real phenomenon that has traditionally included wild tales of debauchery, typically leading to pregnant nuns committing some form of infanticide.
I am 100% certain that a great deal of what’s in the news now is true, but I become slightly less certain when nuns are involved because of the shenanigans of lying Protestant Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries.
But I wouldn’t be too surprised if all of it is true. It feels like evil fuckers are trying to outdo themselves lately, like they’re trying to be so outrageous it’s hard to believe.
Sinead O’Conner is Rachel Maddow’s guest right now.
@#3 WTF does your post mean? Maybe I’m not in the know but if you are going to post something here, why not make sure it’s at least partly intelligible without having to know the secret code!?
ooh ooh! Thanks for the hot tip, Ursula. Those two in the same room will replace my need for naughty nun stories for at least a week. Meow!
AmiriteOrAmirite?
Anyone?
…
@ DaveWTC: new to these parts, are ya? See, we’re all about the bacon here. Especially on Fridays and on each and every single day of Lent and Ramadan.
@#49 Mike,yeah, I guess I am. Thanks for clearing that up.
“I am 100% certain that a great deal of what’s in the news now is true, but I become slightly less certain when nuns are involved because of the shenanigans of lying Protestant Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries.”
I’ve actually known of Priest on Nun abuse scandal for a while (it came in HS (catholic school) while i was researching a paper on the pedo scandal) The church has long had problems with nun abuse and the like…like the kid one it has been kept under wraps.
Here’s the bullshitter from the anti-Catholics which has tainted my ability to view these stories with 100% trust:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Monk
It’s not surprising it’s a real thing, given the child abuse, but… Yuck. It’s like when your condemnation of Israel has to be run through the filter of making sure you’re not just trusting an anti-Semite’s bullshit. Annoying.
Sure it does. If they practice it as Jesus suggested it.
Don’t remember the exact verse, but it’s been mentioned here before. Cutting it off tends to limit it’s use.
I wonder what happens to the babies of women who get pregnant. Perhaps Africa, and India are dumping grounds for malignant priests. By the way, celibacy was instituted by the RCC in the 1100s.
@sqlrob- Or you could just attend more Star Trek Conventions.
That seems pretty effective, too.
Not that I would know first hand or anything like that.
Frankly I think there shouldn’t be calls to abolish the celibacy requirement.
If you sign up you should know the rules, and follow them
If you can’t, quit.
To those of you wondering what kind of rap nuns would sing, look no further
As a teenager, now 40 years ago, and Congo being just “de-colonialised”, in Belgium we had the saying among kids “What’s a black virgin ? A black virgin is a black woman that can run faster than a white missionary”. Really, abuse by the church is so well known in Belgium that the recent pedophile case is just seen as “why seems everybody surprised?”.
This abuse is certainly not limited to African religious.
I live in Scotland, and my grandmother once told me about when she lived with her family near a convent in Lanarkshire. One day they heard frantic banging on the door, and her father answered. It was a nun, begging to come in to safety as the priest had been trying to rape her.
I never found out what happened afterwards, but I doubt the priest was punished in any way.
And the cardinal, far from his litterary portrayal, did actually keep his vows. There was never even a serious rumor about him and a woman, or man, or boy, or even sheep! – irenedelse
But of course the main advantage of an affair with a sheep is that it won’t complain to the authorities or sell its story to the press! Hence I submit we have no evidence that Cardinal Richelieu did not have a favourite ewe called Doris, whom he decorated with scarlet ribbons to match his robe, and whom he visited in her luxury pen at least once a week.
It’s fascinating how flexible catholic dogma can be when doing so advances the Vatican’s interests. Let’s look into the vicar general’s catholic mind at work:
“Look, we have lost tens of million catholics in Europe and the ones that stayed are disobedient but the African continent has been rich pickings. we have picked up some 117 million catholics. They are needy, poor and ignorant so they do as they are told because we control the schools, aid and their immortal souls. It’s almost as good as we had it in the middle ages in Europe! When we lie to them and tell them condoms don’t prevent aids – they listen! So great birth rate and more catholics for us. You can’t get that in Europe. So in terms of church authority, power and growth if priests in Africa have to fuck nuns – we can live with that.
Gays are still go to hell though”
great.americam.satan –
Some of the comments (not just by g.a.s) about the poster’s sexual fantasies are distasteful and totally inappropriate in a thread about the rape and abuse of nuns.
You know, RTL, I was thinking the same thing. Sorry I let that go as long as it did. I’m done now.
“Some of the comments (not just by g.a.s) about the poster’s sexual fantasies are distasteful and totally inappropriate in a thread about the rape and abuse of nuns. ”
It’s more than just distasteful, it’s telling of an attitude where the rape of women and girls is nothing more than some joke/wank fantasy for stunted heterosexual males, that is when they’re not busy denying that the rape happened in the first place anyway.
Sytematic rape of the female half of the human race has been perpetrated by religious and non-religious men across the globe for millenia.
When men do it to boys they are “despicable perverts” and there is mass anger(see other pharyngula threads on the topic).
When men do it to women or girls, well it’s mostly just ignored, but when it is discussed … ha ha that’s what women are for … porn fodder and hole for men to relive themselves into.
Africa, America, Atheist, Priest – same sick attitude all ways.