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Friday, February 20, 2009

'Amen' - Autobiography of an ex-nun (after 33 yrs)



Ex-nun's confessions set to rock Kerala (India) Church..

Already reeling under several controversies, the Kerala Catholic Church is facing fresh embarrassment from a tell-all autobiography written by a nun who recently quit the Order alleging harassment from superiors. Apart from the Abhaya murder in which a nun and priests are accused, the Kerala Church was recently in the news for a priest “adopting” a 26-year-old woman.

'Amen — an autobiography of a nun’, released last week, is written by Dr Sister Jesme, 52, who was the Principal of St Mary’s College, Thrissur, till last August when she quit the Congregation of Mother Carmelite (CMC). Jesme’s autobiography includes a poignant version by her of how the convent authorities tried to twice prove that she had mental problems and get her admitted into a rehab centre after she reportedly spoke out against the malpractices within the Order

“Thirty-three years cannot be penned down in 180 pages but there are points the I want to make about the capitation fee, the quarrels that happen within the church, about the homo-sexuality, the hetero-sexuality,”

The state women's commission now says it will take up Jesme's case very seriously. “We are studying the matter and will take it up seriously. I cannot tell you anything more on this issue,” says State Women Commission Chairperson, Justice Sree Devi. The explosive life story of a Kerala nun, 'Amen - Oru Kanyasthreeyude Atmakatha' (Amen Autobiography of a Nun), by Sister Jesmi, is selling briskly in the state with its publishers having ordered a third reprint of 2,000 copies within weeks of its release.

Not long ago, a study had claimed that 25% nuns were unhappy in convents. ''It's a very courageous work. It's not easy for a person who has lived 30 years in a convent to bring out the undesirable things that happened there, particularly matters like jealousy and backbiting between sisters in responsible position,'' said M V Pylee, first vice chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology.

Before anyone jump into any conclusions, let us just be realistic and look at the background. Catholic church is the world's largest Christian church, representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world's population. The Church's highest earthly authority in matters of faith, morality and Church governance is the pope. The Church defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity.

It operates social programs and institutions throughout the world, including schools, universities, hospitals, missions and shelters, as well as organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Internationalis and Catholic Charities that help the poor, families, the elderly and the sick. Church played a big role in setting up hospitals and educational institutions all over then young, poor and budding India, which had tremendous influence in it's growth and progress.

Through apostolic succession, the Church believes itself to be the continuation of the Christian community founded by Jesus in his consecration of Saint Peter, a view shared by many historians. It has defined its doctrines through various ecumenical councils, following the example set by the first Apostles in the Council of Jerusalem. On the basis of promises made by Jesus to his apostles, described in the Gospels, the Church believes that it is guided by the Holy Spirit and so protected from falling into doctrinal error. Catholic beliefs are based on the Bible and on traditions handed down from the time of the Apostles, which are interpreted by a teaching authority. Those beliefs are summarized in the Nicene Creed and formally detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

With a history spanning almost two thousand years, the Church is one of the world's oldest institutions.

Although the Church maintains that it is the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" founded by Jesus Christ, where one can find the fullness of the means of salvation, it acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of other Christian communities to bring people to salvation. It believes that it is called by the Holy Spirit to work for unity among all Christians, a movement known as ecumenism. Modern challenges facing the Church include the rise of secularism and opposition to its pro-life stance on abortion and euthanasia.

Apart from above, the Church has been victim of many allegations, some proven to be right. Church also has many threats from new age Christians and communists/atheists. So the point is, don't use these odd and rare instances to generalize one of the oldest, biggest and yet surviving organization. It doesn't mean every priest or nun who is walking around in a clerical clothing is a pedophile, homosexual or some other kind of pervert. Catholic priests or nuns take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They also profess to obey certain guidelines for living and leave every earthly attachments and possessions behind, to serve the community and Jesus, spreading the message of love and melts off like a candle providing light and warmth to everyone around them.

But the devil is there everywhere, and we are all error-prone humans... no one is perfect. Even in the middle of the Eden garden with everything possibly around, in a perfect world, Satan was quite successful to convince Eve to sin :-)

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