BishopAccountability.org
	Jaipur Literature Fest: Nun-Author Has Audience Spellbound By Shreya Roy Chowdhury Times of India January 25, 2010 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jaipur-Literature-Fest-Nun-author-has-audience-spellbound/articleshow/5496459.cms INDIA -- JAIPUR: Sister Jesme was a wary woman when the English version of her controversial autobiography,'Amen: An Autobiography of a Nun' — an eye-opener on alleged corrupt practices within the Catholic Church — was launched last year. But at the Jaipur Literature Festival, she was a remarkably at-ease nun who, in a steady voice, read sections from her book where she detailed the sexual abuse she faced. C Meamy Raphael had been Sister Jesme for 33 years before she finally quit in August 2008. Now 53, she doesn't wear the habit anymore and appeared before a spellbound audience in a green salwar-kameez, gold bangle, chain and earrings and a mobile phone dangling from her neck. But she's still Sister Jesme. "I'm not an ex-nun. I am a nun," she declares confidently. "A girl can be a Sister even outside the convent," she says to spontaneous applause. She has always been outspoken, she says, protesting against Church practices even as a junior nun at the Congregation of Mother Carmel. Though denied positions of responsibility within the Church, she served as principal at St Mary's College, Thrissur. She didn't want to leave the convent but decided to when authorities threatened to have a psychiatrist examine her. She had considered it her duty to reveal all and demand a "renovation" (sic). She has described in her book how a senior nun had allegedly tried to seduce her by leaving love letters in her religious books and how she had to "succumb" to the alleged overtures of a priest. 'Amen', available in English, Malayalam and now, Hindi, is a hit, with the first Malayalam edition going into 11 reprints in 10 months. Jesme has had a busy time since she quit. She's been writing articles, addressing gatherings, has been asked by the Communist party to contest elections — a request she declined — and, last October, was invited to read at the Frankfurt Book Fair. "I was a little nervous before but then Jesus did this," she says, displaying a thumbs-up sign.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.