WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
August 10, 2018
Magazines and newspapers have long been sources to break big news stories. Now, too, social media is taking its turn.
In a series of tweets, a onetime seminarian who goes by the handle “inflammateomnia” – Latin for “Go set the world on fire,” a quote ascribed to St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits – detailed on Twitter sexually abusive behavior he said was directed at him and which he witnessed, as well as the lack of urgency given his complaints by one seminary official.
Inflammateomnia, who does not reveal his name on Twitter, describes himself as a Boston-based graduate student in theology, “seeking the true, good and beautiful.” “Guess this is my Catholic #MeToo moment,” he began, echoing the Twitter hashtag women have used since last fall to reveal their own tales of abuse and harassment.
Even in the expanded Twitterverse of 280 characters per tweet, it took inflammateomnia more than 20 tweets to tell his story.
Due to his anonymity, and his not naming the seminary and the people involved, his story cannot be independently verified. If it is true, though, it paints a disturbing picture of seminary life.
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