In Chapter Fourteen of my work in progress, I share my encounters with a few priests who did not live up to their role as spiritual leaders of their flock. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, I’ve adapted a prosaic narrative style. Do let me know if this style works. Inspired by the Biblical quote heading the chapter, I’ve given them the fictitious names of fish.
While not all priests are predators, their fellow priests, bishops, and archbishops are complicit by their silence and cover-ups.
Rosaliene (right) and Celeste (fictitious name) with Bishop Guilly SJ – First Vows and Receipt of Religious Habit – Georgetown – Guyana Photo taken by Father Bernard Darke SJ for the Catholic Standard Newspapers
In Chapter Thirteen of my work in progress, I share my failure in living the religious vows as a celibate and childless woman in a patriarchal church. In retrospect, I have come to realize that the Guyana Mission, established during the British colonial period and headquartered in the United States, was not prepared for dealing with young women who challenged the lingering colonial mindset within the community.
The 1970s was a decade of great social-political-economic upheavals in our fledgling nation. The 1976 government takeover of all schools owned and run by the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations struck a decisive blow for the religious community accustomed to its autonomy. By abandoning my teaching post in Guyana’s hinterlands, I unwittingly became the first casualty for the religious community, as discussed in more detail in Chapter 16.
While the sisters struggled to adapt to the country’s new ways of thinking and being, three of the youngest professed local nuns, all trained in the United States, left the community. Of the seven of us, trained at the newly established novitiate in Guyana, only three stayed to make final or perpetual vows.
Nowadays, here in the USA, the patriarchal religious right would like to turn back time to the “Golden 1950s.” Make America Great(er) Again, they implore, bowing down before their Anointed One. A faithful disciple, now sharing the pulpit, believes that “childless cat ladies” shouldn’t have the same civic rights as women with children. What an upside-down world for women who are childless by choice or for biological reasons!
During Mass on Entrance Day – Convent Chapel – January 14, 1971
In Chapter Twelve of my work in progress, I share my experience of adjusting to convent life. The captioned photo was taken during Mass on our Entrance Day. That’s me on the left carrying the chalice. Celeste (fictitious name) served within the religious community until her death in November 2021. The laywoman with glasses, seated in the pew on the right, is my invitee and senior high school geography teacher, another influential woman during my adolescent years.
As far as I know [Celeste used to keep me up to date with news], only two nuns who welcomed the two of us into the community that day are still alive today. I honor the memory of the Sisters in Christ who, by their exemplary life, shaped my formation into the purpose-driven woman I still am today.
Instead of featuring the life of a particular nun, I decided to focus on adjusting to convent life (Chapter 12) and on the three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience (Chapter 13) that define the life of the religious woman.
Three Worlds One Vision 