WEBVTT - S1: Ep 7 - Silence 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:05.120 Before we start, I want to let you know that 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.520 this episode contains descriptions of alleged sexual abuse. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.320 In the beginning was the word, and the word was 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:21.920 with God, and in silence. The Word of God is pronounced. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.560 Elli Anastasia Damidova was a noun with the Missionaries of 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.800 Charity until twenty fourteen. He now uses he him pronounce 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:33.600 and mostly goes by the name Eli, but he asked 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.240 that we refer to him as Eli Anastasia. Anastasia is 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:38.640 the name he used when he was a sister in 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.800 the MCS, So that's what we'll do. Ellie Anastasia always 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.320 loved silence. Praying in silence brought him closer to God. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.800 He's fond of a quote from Mother Teresa. In the 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:52.199 silence God speaks. 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:57.200 It is not the empty silence, silence filled with the presence, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.400 presence something which is greater than human being done, universe 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.880 than anything else, the presence of something which is untouchable. 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.520 But now silence is painful. Since he left the Missionaries 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:20.680 of Charity in twenty fourteen, he avoids it. He leaves 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.360 a television on when he's at home, especially at. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.240 Night, to make some kind of noise. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.160 Why do you think silence is. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:40.200 Hard because it comes back. The murmur is back. 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.720 Maybe was probably night is connected to the time when 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:50.600 everything was happening. This anxiety again comes and the memories 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:57.040 comes back. Never Never, I can sleep in silence. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.080 From Rococo Punch and iHeart Radio. This is the Turning 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:17.840 I America Lance Part seven Silence. All right, I'm just 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:22.480 gonna press record on my end. Let's see, so your 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.320 headphones are plugged in, right. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:25.200 Yeah. 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.079 When we video chat, Elli Anastasia smiles a lot and 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.760 this earnest almost shy way testing testing. 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:36.000 Yeah, that's what better. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.480 Ellie Anastasia is thirty three years old. He's originally from Russia. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.160 There's the sweetness that radiates from him when he talks. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.520 He always wears a cap on his head with all 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.919 his hair tucked into it. Today, Ellie Anastasia calls himself 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.960 a human rights defender. He advocates for the LGBTQ community 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.680 and abuse victims. Back in twenty fourteen, he was twenty 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.600 six years old. He was a pastulent in the Missionaries 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.000 of Charity. He was stationed in West Bengal, India and 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.000 a city called Chinsura. It's a small city by Indian 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.840 standards about three hundred thousand people. Even though they were 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.320 in a city, ali Anastasia says, the empty house felt isolated, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.040 like they were living off the map. There weren't many 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.679 Christians in the area, and without cars, they had to 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.720 walk two hours to get to a church for Mass 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:24.240 on Sunday. 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.440 No television nor radio, no news in general in the city. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.320 We never knew what is happening. It's very hot. Sometimes 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.280 it is horrible raining, a lot of monkeys which are 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:35.880 destroying everything around you. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.360 Despite the isolation and the monkeys that tore up the 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.680 MC's garden, ali Anastasia loved being there. 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.280 I was so happy that my aim was just I 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.760 want to serve God. I love God. I just want 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.560 to live a proper life and to pray and to 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:53.720 love the poor and so on. 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.440 He asked his fellow sisters how to say words in 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.120 Bengali so he could talk to the people who lived there. 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.560 Please teach me how to tell him God loves you. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.440 I have to tell people about love. I was just 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:07.760 a happy person. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.280 He remembers. The first time he met his mistress, the 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.680 nun in charge of his spiritual formation and day to 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.480 day life. The mistress was also the superior of the house. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.520 Usually those positions are separate, so it was like the 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.400 mistress was both Eli Anastasia's boss and his boss's boss. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.200 Something can He was just frightening me. Maybe it was 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.880 just psychological because my vocations dependent on their his person 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:32.720 or I don't know. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.520 But Eli Anastasia told me. After he'd been there a 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.640 couple of weeks, the mistress, who were not naming, started 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.039 showing him special attention. She ate meals with him, just 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.039 the two of them. She talked about mutual acquaintances, She 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.560 empathized with challenges Eli Anastasia had faced in the past. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.400 In one conversation, his mistress said she'd received a message 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.080 from the Virgin Mary that Mary told her to become 0:04:55.160 --> 0:05:00.520 Eli Anastasia's spiritual mother. His personal mentor and guide. Ellie 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.800 Anastasia showed us a note he says he received from 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:07.159 his mistress. It says, my dear little spiritual child, thank 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.240 you for accepting me as your spiritual mum, and then 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.520 mourns this note is only for you. All of this 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.359 seemed strange given MC rules against close friendship and special attention, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.200 but Ellie Anastasia didn't question it. It wasn't his place 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:26.560 to question. Then one evening they were in the sacristy, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:31.080 a room off the chapel. They were alone. Ellie Anastasia's 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.320 mistress asked him to sit next to her on a stool. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.000 Then the mistress stood up and pulled Ellie Anastasia's head 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.680 to her belly. She held it there. She uttered these 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.200 phrases like she was soothing him. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:50.640 Mother Mary said, you need so much attention, you need 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.400 special attention and care. And like I'm sitting the time, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:59.560 I remember what is going on. Why she's doing like that? 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.040 Because it was lasting half an hour, forty minutes that 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.760 that was so long. How to react? She's superior, she's mistress. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.440 What she's doing, I don't understand. I'm just praying this God, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:11.479 let it stop. 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:12.680 What is going on? 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.800 Around this time, Eli Anastasia says his mistress began sexualizing 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.159 their day to day interactions. At the breakfast table, she 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.280 read aloud letters from Mother Teresa that mentioned issues like masturbation. 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.080 Sometimes in class, she read from a controversial spiritual text 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.400 that hinted an incestuous relationship between Jesus and his mother Mary. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.240 Ellie Anastasia thought, this is bizarre, but he kept to 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:41.320 his duties. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.120 But everything turned worse. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.800 I don't know how many weeks past, maybe two three 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:47.320 weeks from the beginning it passed. 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:50.520 His mistress asked if he wanted to join her for 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:55.720 night adoration, basically a prayer session. Elie Anastasia was excited. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.200 It was a chance for real silence. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.120 No sounds, no, no, it's just just only gotten you, 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:02.520 and this is wonderful. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.680 After the evening bell rang at ten PM, Ellie Anastasio 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.200 went to the chapel. His mistress sat close and shared 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.360 stories from her life. By two or three am, Eli 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.680 Anastasio was falling asleep. He asked for permission to go 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.040 to bed, got a couple of hours of rest Before 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.760 the morning bell. The next day, the mistress asked him again, 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.880 please join me for night prayers. Ellie Anastasio was sleep 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.640 deprived from the night before, but agreed again. They stayed 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.920 in the chapel until early in the morning. Ellie Anastasia 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.080 says this time, when he started to nod off, the 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.320 mistress pulled his head onto her lap. Then the mistress 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:43.560 repeated the odd phrases. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.960 Mother Mary asked me to be your mother. I will 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.120 be a good mother. To you, just God wants to 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:51.120 your night with you. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.680 And so on, like she's lulling you because you're so tired. 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.520 Yeah, you understand. 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.360 I can't understand how it happened because in one second 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.200 she's turning I had and I'm finding that she's putting 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.200 her breast into my mouth. I'm lying there and like 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:12.680 she's putting her breast into my mouth. I paralyzed that moment. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.520 What is going on? And she's speaking something. It was 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:20.680 something like Mother Mary was feeding Jesus and I've just paralyzed, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.560 and I don't know what to do because her breast in. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:28.520 My mouth and it's awful. Just and I. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.720 Don't know how long it was going on. Actually it 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:33.440 was like every for me. Everything stopped. 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.199 Then there was a noise from the staircase, someone walking 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.439 near the chapel. The mistress quickly covered herself with her 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:47.480 Sorry again, Eleanasasia. I didn't know what to make of 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.439 what was happening. He had no words. He grew up sheltered, 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.600 no talk of sexual abuse, and he says he never 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.480 received any training from the missionaries of charity about sexual 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:03.160 harassment or what constitutes an appropriate behavior, even though this 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:07.640 was a superior the direct voice of God. Something felt 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:08.600 incredibly wrong. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.640 How that is possible something like that to happen in 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.360 front of the blessed sacrament the holiest of holy. 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.200 Stories about sexual abuse are often really hard to investigate, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.400 and it's even harder in a group like this that's 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.120 closed to outsiders. So we partnered with an investigative reporting 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:41.880 team type Investigations, and we worked with reporter Catherine Joyce. So, Catherine, 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.280 you know, we don't know where sisters are stationed. In 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:45.960 some cases, we might not even know if they're in 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.240 the order anymore. We don't know their real or secular names, 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.600 and their mail is read by their superior, so if 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.480 we send them a letter, it might not even get 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:53.800 to them. 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:54.840 Yeah. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.880 I think that this was one of the things that 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.520 was more challenging about reporting the story than any other 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.960 that I've done. It is such an insular group. There's 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:08.319 another superior who is ultimately making a decision about whether 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:13.040 or not people can speak to us, and that insularity 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:18.440 is so much more formalized than in a lot of 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:23.200 other groups that I've looked at. Over the past decade plus, 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.080 I've reported on this a number of times, sometimes looking 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:33.000 at abuse in specific Catholic churches sometimes looking at big 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:38.360 fundamentalist or evangelical institutions, whether that's someplace like Bob Jones 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.439 University or a very large overseas mission group that has 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.880 a lot of members. So I've seen this sort of 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.480 stuff in different settings before, and I think that there 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.880 are some similarities. But one thing that was pretty interesting 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:58.040 in this case is that there was a substantial paper trail. 0:10:58.640 --> 0:10:58.880 Yeah. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.360 I mean, we collected a lot of documents about this story, 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.920 and Eli Anastasia isn't the only person with an allegation 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.880 of sexual abuse in the MCS. We also spoke with 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.480 another former sister named Batilde, and we're going to get 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:11.560 to her story a little later. 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:17.880 To confirm both stories, we reviewed legal documents, church investigation reports, 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.760 emails from the MC's regarding their policies. Plus we had 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.679 dozens of letters that both Batilde and eli Anastasia had 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.600 been sending back and forth with the MC's or other 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.160 members of the Catholic hierarchy, other people in their lives, 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.760 sort of testifying to what had happened to them. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:37.959 We really did want to hear from the missionaries of 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.559 charity on this, and we wrote to them several times 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.000 we sent them a comprehensive list of questions. They didn't 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.679 answer those questions, but we did get a statement from 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.199 an MC spokesperson who told us that the alleged abusers 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.679 vehemently denied the allegations. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.080 Yeah, we asked to speak to them directly, but the 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:01.840 MC's declined. That spokesperson also told us that the fact 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.480 that ele Anastasia and Batilde quote believe they were abused 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.880 is without question, but continued that the evidence compiled and 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:14.840 the investigations the missionaries of charity conducted contradicts their accusations. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.719 They're basically saying that they investigated the abuse and they 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:21.280 say that the abuse did not happen. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:22.240 Yep. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:23.080 You know. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.720 The other thing that stuck out to me in this 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.760 response is the suggestion that these former sisters both had 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:33.719 mental health problems. They also emphasized that neither of them 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.280 took vows, basically implying that they weren't real missionaries of charity, 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.720 sort of as a defense against these allegations. 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:45.200 You know, there is a long history of responding to 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:50.720 rape allegations or abuse allegations by denigrating the mental health 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.720 of the person who's making the accusation or delegitimizing them 0:12:54.960 --> 0:13:00.360 in one way or another, basically calling them crazy, sickly 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.800 calling them crazy. You know, back during the Bill Clinton era, 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.680 the defense that was commonly made against all of the 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.920 women who came forward with allegations against President Clinton was 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.040 referred to as nuts and sluts because women were just 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.560 being constantly dismissed as either crazy or promiscuous. I mean, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:20.840 I just think that it is a it's a common thing. 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.480 This praying together. It became a nightly ritual. And Ellie 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.040 Anastasia says, his mistress pushed things further. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.520 She was trying to put for kind, but it should 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.160 not be at all, never, never, never, because of the 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.440 vow of chastity. First to fall under my skirt, and 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.600 I said, whoa stop, what are you doing? 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.679 The mistress pulled back her hand, but kept moving her body. 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:55.959 Against his. 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.280 And it was just awful. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:04.400 Ellie Anastasia wanted to tell someone. He tried to describe 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.600 this thing he didn't understand. In confession, he says, the 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.000 priest dismissed him. 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:09.840 Child. 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.640 Your superior knows I know how very well. She wouldn't 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:15.000 wish anything. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.640 Bad to you. She's your superior. Listen and do what 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:20.160 she tells you. 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.800 Ellie Anastasia thought maybe he could phone another priest he knew, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.320 but he had to ask his mistress for permission to 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.080 use a payphone in town. Then his mistress stood directly 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.440 beside him while he made the call. It seemed like 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.640 there was no way to tell anyone, so Ellie Anastasia 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:49.560 says the abuse continued for months. This type of abuse, 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.240 he alleges abused by a nun. It tends to fly 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.240 under the radar in the Catholic Church, partly because people 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:56.920 don't expect women to be abusers. 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:06.760 This is a very unaddressed part of Catholic Church history. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.840 Mary Despenza used to be a nun. She now works 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.080 with SNAP, the Survivors Network for those abused by priests. 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.920 She leads support groups for survivors. She's their point person 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:18.640 for abuse involving nuns. 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.760 I have probably heard from one hundred and twenty or 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.040 so survivors of non abuse. 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.920 It wasn't until after she started leading support groups for 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.160 survivors of none abuse that you realize an incident from 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.440 her own time as a nun had been sexual assault. 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.560 That's so hard it can be to recognize none abuse. 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.400 Sometimes religious orders are a little bit different from let's 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:47.640 say the clergy, because you build up, especially women religious, 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:49.960 you really become a family. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:53.120 I often say. 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:57.880 Religious abuse within orders men and women is very much 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:03.480 like incest. The tendency is even greater to keep quiet 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.200 and silent because you don't want to hurt your family. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:08.960 And then there's the vow of obedience. 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.360 They're afraid because they're taught. If you ask questions, it's 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.640 a sin. If you doubt anything, it's a sin. 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.840 This is Tom Doyle. He was a Catholic priest for 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.880 forty years. In the nineteen eighties, he became one of 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.480 the first priests to draw attention to the clergy sex 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.640 abuse crisis. He wrote a ninety two page report that 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.000 urged the church to take the problem seriously. 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:32.880 It was the end of my career in the Vatican 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:34.720 as a priest. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.560 Almost twenty years later, the National Catholic Reporter wrote that 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.520 his report had been prophetic. Today, Doyle estimates his report 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.360 has been cited in thousands of lawsuits, and he's become 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.320 a global expert. He's worked on or consulted on more 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.440 than a thousand clergy sex abuse cases around the world. 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.640 He says the rigid hierarchy in conservative religious orders like 0:16:55.640 --> 0:17:00.000 the Missionaries of Charity can trap abuse victims. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.960 Orders where the Mother General or the Mother Superior's word 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.800 was considered to be the word of God, so that 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.600 even if they would tell you, even if the Superior 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.119 gives you an order that is wrong, you have to 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:23.399 obey it because it's God's word. Now that is insanity. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.840 Eli Anastasia learned to follow the rule of obedience years 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.000 before he ever came to India. Back in two thousand 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.960 and eight, six years before his time, intioned Sarah. He 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.080 was just starting out. He was an MC pre aspirant 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.560 in Poland. One day he got news that his grandmother, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.439 who was like a mother to him, had died. The 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.680 mistress in Poland scolded him for crying. Eli Anastasia asked 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.119 for permission to go home for the funeral, but the 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:53.040 mistress said. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.359 If you want to go to funeral or somewhere else, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.600 but your thinks to go away and never come back again, 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.760 or shut up and go and smile to your sisters. 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.239 So basically, either leave and go to the funeral but 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.919 never come back, yeah, or stay but stop crying, go 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:12.359 smile and be your sister. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.119 And It was just one or two hours after I 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.520 got the phone call about that. Oh my heart was 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:23.840 broken to kid Jesus, I choose you and what I did? 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.919 I cried for the last time I went and I 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:28.800 started to smile. 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.640 Eli Anastassia was eventually dismissed from the MC house in Poland. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.320 He told us he doesn't know why. When we ask 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.919 the Missionaries of Charity for comment, an authorized spokesperson claimed 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.840 Eli Anastasia was dismissed because of his personal conduct. The 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.119 spokesperson said it included a claim that he put his 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:52.080 hand on the throat of a fellow aspirant. The spokesperson 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:56.119 also alleges that Eli Anastasia's behavior follows a pattern that 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:00.720 he quote enthusiastically enters a missionary of charity community, forms 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.919 an unhealthy emotional attachment with one of its members, is 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:08.000 rebuffed by that individual, and then engages in highly inappropriate behavior, 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:14.240 including threats of suicide, until asked to leave. Eli Anastasia 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:15.680 says none of this is true. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.760 Making up rumors and gossips is the only strategy that 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:25.480 the religious family would choose in this terrible situation, in 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.280 spite of following the way of God, who is a 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:29.159 friend of truth. 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.920 Eli Anastasia says he wasn't suicidal in Poland. He felt 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:35.560 being in the MCY house in Poland was one of 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.320 the happiest times in his life. And not only did 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.919 he never assault his fellow aspirant, but he says the 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.840 reverse actually happened. A sister who Anastasia says was troubled, 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.320 had attacked him twice, ripping the buttons off his shirt. 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.640 Plus he says that incident happened nearly a year before 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:52.960 he was asked to go home, and he says during 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.480 that time his superior told him to start showing his 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.280 sorry to get ready to move to the next stage. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.800 After he Poland, Eli Anastasia returned home to Russia. He 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.280 volunteered with the MC's in Moscow, and then he got 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.879 a second chance to join the Missionaries of Charity. He 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.720 could start again in India. It felt like a miracle. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.000 So when his mistress in India invited him to these 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.280 night adorations, he worried that if he disobeyed, he'd be 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.800 sent away again. He says the abuse began in the 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.719 chapel but then spread to other parts of the house, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.680 in particular mother's room, The room in the house where 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.000 mother Teresa used to stay. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:32.800 This is the room of abuse. 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.159 It wasn't separated by a wall, just a bamboo screen 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:37.640 and a curtain instead of a door. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:39.879 Just every day the same story. 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.880 She was coming in the mother's room around eleven o'clock 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.720 and she was taking off my clothes. She was taking 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.959 off holl clothes. She was lying in the bed. She 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.600 was putting me on the top, like trying to put 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:57.440 breast on breast and just making the movements in order to. 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:02.280 Get Eliannastas Yeah, loses his words here, but in a 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:04.880 letter he sent the MCS in twenty nineteen, he wrote 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.200 that his mistress quote moved her body till she got pleasure. 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:12.200 She was just constantly repeating about the sacrifice and your 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.320 special one. You're my Jesus, I'm Mary. You're like Jesus 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:18.600 to me. You're like Jesus to me. You're like Jesus 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.040 to me, and like she was whispering on my ear. 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.960 This is for the salvation of the world. This is 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.280 for those who are living in scene. This is for 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.879 those who are not keeping chaesty tis. This is not 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.720 the scene. This is just a sacrifice. 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.679 One time, ali Anastasia says he traveled with his mistress 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.040 to Kolkata. While they are there, the mistress pointed out 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:47.320 another nun. She said that sister betrayed her. The mistress 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.800 told ali Anastasia, I was a mother to her. She 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.320 was my daughter like you. She was like my Jesus. 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.400 Ali Anastasia thought to himself, this is my mistress, admitting 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.200 she's done this before. The mistress then turned to Elie 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:05.200 Anastasia and. 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.960 Said, will you betray me? Why are you going to 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:35.080 be my judas? 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.280 For decades, the news has been full of stories of 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:40.600 sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. They started coming 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.080 to light while Mother Teresa was still alive and came 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:43.800 close to home. 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:46.840 I don't know how you know about Tom maguire, but 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:49.639 he was a serial abuser of boys. 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.600 Terry McKiernan is the founder of Bishop Accountability, an organization 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.919 that documents abuse in the Catholic Church. He's referring to 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:02.160 Donald maguire, formerly Father Donald Mare, a Jesuit priest defrocked 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:05.159 in two thousand and eight. Donald McGuire was one of 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:07.840 many priests who went to prison for sexually abusing boys, 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:11.199 and one of the most prominent. He was a conservative 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:14.040 and inspiring priest with powerful friends. 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:21.400 His mo was that he targeted wealthy, right wing Catholic families, 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:26.359 and once he ingratiated himself into that family and began 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:30.840 syphoning off funds, he would also convince them to allow 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:35.160 their twelve or thirteen year old son to accompany him 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:39.320 as his secretary. During these trips, which were you know, 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.359 basically he was always on the road, he would sexually 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:46.560 assault the boy who had been picked to be his 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:47.280 his secretary. 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:53.240 In nineteen eighty three, McGuire became a spiritual director of 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:56.320 the Missionaries of Charity. He traveled the world to MC 0:23:56.480 --> 0:24:00.000 houses to hear confessions from MC sisters, and he held 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.640 dozens of retreats for the order. Mother Teresa also met 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:08.240 alone with him for confession and spiritual advice. You've actually 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.320 heard about Donald McGuire before. He's the priest who warned 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:14.480 Joan Worcester not to leave the MCS or she'd get 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:19.280