Speaker 1: Before we start, I want to let you know that
Speaker 1: this episode contains descriptions of alleged sexual abuse. In the
Speaker 1: beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
Speaker 1: and in silence the Word of God is pronounced. Ellie
Speaker 1: Anastasia Demidova was a nun with the Missionaries of Charity.
Speaker 1: Until he now uses he him pronounced and mostly goes
Speaker 1: by the name Ellie, but he asked that we refer
Speaker 1: to him as Ellie Anastasia. Anastasia is the name he
Speaker 1: used when he was a sister in the MCS, so
Speaker 1: that's what we'll do. Ellie Anastasia always loved silence. Praying
Speaker 1: in silence brought him closer to God. He's found of
Speaker 1: a quote from Mother Teresa. In the silence, God speaks.
Speaker 1: It is not the empty silence, silence field with the
Speaker 1: presence presence something which is greater than human being, then universe,
Speaker 1: than anything else, the presence of something which is untouchable.
Speaker 1: But now silence is painful. Since he left the Missionaries
Speaker 1: of Charity, he avoids it. So I guess he leaves
Speaker 1: a television on when he's at home, especially at night,
Speaker 1: to make some kind of noise. Why do you think
Speaker 1: silence is hard because it comes back. The mmur is back.
Speaker 1: Maybe the most probably night is connected to the time
Speaker 1: when everything was happening. This anxiety again comes and the
Speaker 1: memories comes back. Never Never, I can sleep in silence
Speaker 1: from Rococo Punch and I Hurt Radio. This is the turning.
Speaker 1: I'm Erica Lance Part seven silence. Um, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna press record on my end. Let's see so
Speaker 1: your headphones are plugged in, right, Yeah. When we video chat,
Speaker 1: Ellie Anastasia smiles a lot in this earnest almost shy
Speaker 1: way testing testing. Yeah. Ellie Anastasia is thirty three years old.
Speaker 1: He's originally from Russia. There's the sweetness that radiates from
Speaker 1: him when he talks. He always wears a cap on
Speaker 1: his head with all his hair tucked into it. Today,
Speaker 1: Ellie Anastasia calls himself a human rights defender. He advocates
Speaker 1: for the LGBTQ community and abuse victims. But back he
Speaker 1: was twenty six years old and he was a pastilant
Speaker 1: in the Missionaries of Charity. He was stationed in West Bengal,
Speaker 1: India and a city culture Sarah. It's a small city
Speaker 1: by Indian standards, about three people even though they were
Speaker 1: in a city, ali Anastasia says, the empty house felt isolated,
Speaker 1: like they were living off the map. There weren't many
Speaker 1: Christians in the area, and without cars, they had to
Speaker 1: walk two hours to get to a church for Mass
Speaker 1: on Sunday. No television, no ragio, no news in general
Speaker 1: in the city. We never knew what was happening. It's
Speaker 1: very hot. Sometimes it is horrible raining, a lot of
Speaker 1: monkeys just throwing everything around you. Despite the isolation and
Speaker 1: the monkeys that tore up the MC's garden, Elianastasia loved
Speaker 1: being there. I was so happy that my aim was
Speaker 1: just I want to serve God. I love God. I
Speaker 1: just want to live a proper life and to pray
Speaker 1: and to love the poor and soul. He asked his
Speaker 1: fellow sisters how to say words in Bengali so he
Speaker 1: could talk to the people who lived there. Please teach
Speaker 1: me how to tell him God loves you. I have
Speaker 1: to tell people about love. I was just happy person.
Speaker 1: He remembers the first time he met his mistress, the
Speaker 1: nun in charge of his spiritual formation and day to
Speaker 1: day life. The mistress was also the superior of the house.
Speaker 1: Usually those positions are separate, so it was like the
Speaker 1: mistress was both Elie Anastasia's boss and his boss's boss.
Speaker 1: Something control was just frightening me. Maybe it was just
Speaker 1: psychological because my vocations dependent on their first person, or
Speaker 1: I don't know, but Elie Anastasia told me after he'd
Speaker 1: been there a couple of weeks, the mistress, who are
Speaker 1: not naming, started showing him special attention. She ate meals
Speaker 1: with him, just the two of them. She talked about
Speaker 1: mutual acquaintances, she empathized with challenges Eli Anastasia had faced
Speaker 1: in the past. In one conversation, his mistress said she'd
Speaker 1: received a message from the Virgin Mary that Mary told
Speaker 1: her to become Elie Anastasia's spiritual mother, his personal mentor
Speaker 1: and guide. Elie Anastasia showed us a note he says
Speaker 1: he received from his mistress. It says, my dear little
Speaker 1: spiritual child, thank you for accepting me as your spiritual mum,
Speaker 1: and then mourns this note is only for you. All
Speaker 1: of this seemed strange, given MC rules against close friendship
Speaker 1: and special attention, but Ellie Anastasia didn't question it. It
Speaker 1: wasn't his place to question. Then, one evening, they were
Speaker 1: in the sacristy, a room off the chapel. They were alone.
Speaker 1: Ellie Anastasia's mistress asked him to sit next to her
Speaker 1: on a stool. Then the mistress stood up and pulled
Speaker 1: Elie Anastasia's head to her belly. She held it there.
Speaker 1: She uttered these phrases like she was soothing him. Mother medic,
Speaker 1: You need so much attention, you need special attention and care.
Speaker 1: And like I'm seeking at what's going on? Why she's
Speaker 1: doing like that? Because it was lasting half or forty minutes.
Speaker 1: That that was so long. How to react? She's superior,
Speaker 1: she's mistress. What she's doing, I don't understand. I'm just
Speaker 1: praying this gut, let it stop. What is going on?
Speaker 1: Around this time, Elie Anastasia says his mistress began sexualizing
Speaker 1: their day to day interactions. At the breakfast table, she
Speaker 1: read aloud letters from Mother Teresa that mentioned issues like masturbation.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in class, she read from a controversial spiritual text
Speaker 1: that hinted an incestuous relationship between Jesus and his mother Mary.
Speaker 1: Elie Anastasia thought, this is bizarre, but he kept to
Speaker 1: his duties. But everything turned worse I don't know how
Speaker 1: many weeks past, maybe two or three weeks from the
Speaker 1: beginning of the past. His mistress asked if he wanted
Speaker 1: to join her for night adoration, basically a prayer session.
Speaker 1: Elie Anastasia was excited. It was a chance for real silence,
Speaker 1: no sounds, no know, it's just to just undergotten you
Speaker 1: and this is wonderful. After the evening bell rang at
Speaker 1: ten pm, Ellie Anastasia went to the chapel. His mistress
Speaker 1: sat close and shared stories from her life. By two
Speaker 1: or three am, Elie Anastasia was falling asleep. He asked
Speaker 1: for permission to go to bed, got a couple of
Speaker 1: hours of rest Before the morning bell. The next day,
Speaker 1: the mistress asked him again, please join me for night prayers.
Speaker 1: Elie Anastasia was sleep deprived from the night before, but
Speaker 1: agreed again. They stayed in the chapel until early in
Speaker 1: the morning. Ellie Anastasia says, this time, when he started
Speaker 1: to nod off, the mistress pulled his head onto her lap.
Speaker 1: Then the mistress repeated the odd phrases. Mother Mighty asked
Speaker 1: me to be your mother. I will be a good
Speaker 1: mother to you. Just got once to your night with
Speaker 1: you and so on, like she's lulling you because you're
Speaker 1: so tired. Yeah, you understand. I can't understand how it
Speaker 1: happened because in one second she started ahead and then
Speaker 1: finding that she's putting her breast into my mouth. I'm lying,
Speaker 1: lying then and like she's putting her breath, but I
Speaker 1: breast into my mouth. I'm paralyzed that moment, what is
Speaker 1: going on? And she speaking something It was something like
Speaker 1: Mother Mary was feeding Jesus. And then I'm just paralyzed,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what to do because her breast
Speaker 1: in my mouth, and that's awful. Just and I don't
Speaker 1: know how long it was going on. Actually it was
Speaker 1: like everything for me, everything stopped. Then there was a
Speaker 1: noise from the staircase, someone walking near the chapel. The
Speaker 1: mistress quickly covered herself with her Sorry again, Elianastasia. I
Speaker 1: didn't know what to make of what was happening. He
Speaker 1: had no words. He grew up sheltered, no talk of
Speaker 1: sexual abuse, and he says he never received any training
Speaker 1: from the missionaries of charity about sexual harassment or what
Speaker 1: constitutes an appropriate behavior, even though this was a superior
Speaker 1: the direct voice of God something felt incredibly wrong. How
Speaker 1: does possible something like that to happen in front of
Speaker 1: the blessed sacrament the holiest of holy. Stories about sexual
Speaker 1: abuse are often really hard to investigate, and it's even
Speaker 1: harder in a group like this that's closed to outsiders.
Speaker 1: So we partnered with an investigative reporting team type Investigations,
Speaker 1: and we worked with reporter Katherine Joyce. So, Catherine, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know where sisters are stationed. In some cases,
Speaker 1: we might not even know if they're in the order anymore.
Speaker 1: We don't know their real or secular names, and their
Speaker 1: mail is read by their superior so if we send
Speaker 1: them a letter, it might not even get to them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that this was one of the things that
Speaker 1: was more challenging about reporting this story than any other
Speaker 1: that I've done. It is such an insular group. There's
Speaker 1: a mother's period who like is ultimately making a decision
Speaker 1: about whether or not people can speak to us, and
Speaker 1: that insularity is so much more formalized than in a
Speaker 1: lot of other groups that I've looked at um Over
Speaker 1: the past decade plus, I've I've reported on this a
Speaker 1: number of times, sometimes looking at abuse in specific Catholic
Speaker 1: churches sometimes looking at big fundamentalist or evangelical institutions, um,
Speaker 1: whether that's someplace like Bob Jones University or a very
Speaker 1: large overseas mission group that has a lot of members.
Speaker 1: So I've I've seen this sort of stuff in in
Speaker 1: different settings before, and I think that there are some similarities.
Speaker 1: But one thing that was pretty interesting in this case
Speaker 1: is that there was a substantial paper trail. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: we collected a lot of documents about this story, and
Speaker 1: Eli Anastasia isn't the only person with an allegation of
Speaker 1: sexual abuse in the MCS. We also spoke with another
Speaker 1: former sister named Betilde, and we're going to get to
Speaker 1: her story a little later. To confirm both stories, we
Speaker 1: reviewed legal documents, church investigation reports, emails from the MCS
Speaker 1: regarding their policies. Plus we had dozens of letters that
Speaker 1: both Batilde and eli Anastasia had been sending back and
Speaker 1: forth with the m c's or other members of the
Speaker 1: Catholic hierarchy, other people in their lives, sort of testifying
Speaker 1: to what had happened to them. We really did want
Speaker 1: to hear from the missionaries of charity on this, and
Speaker 1: we we wrote to them several times. We sent them
Speaker 1: a comprehensive list of questions. They didn't answer those questions,
Speaker 1: but we did get a statement from an MC spokesperson
Speaker 1: who told us that the alleged abusers vehemently denied the allegations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we we asked to speak to them directly, um, but
Speaker 1: the MCS declined. That spokesperson also told us that the
Speaker 1: fact that Elianastasia and Bettild quote believe they were abused
Speaker 1: is without question, but continued that the evidence compiled and
Speaker 1: the investigations the missionaries of charity conducted contradicts their accusations.
Speaker 1: They're basically saying that they investigated the abuse and they
Speaker 1: say that the abuse did not happen. Yep. You know.
Speaker 1: The other thing that stuck out to me in this
Speaker 1: response is the suggestion that these former sisters both had
Speaker 1: mental health problems. They also emphasized that neither of them
Speaker 1: took vows, basically implying that they weren't real missionaries of charity,
Speaker 1: sort of as a defense against these allegations. You know,
Speaker 1: there there is a long history of responding to rape
Speaker 1: allegations or abuse allegations by denigrating the mental health of
Speaker 1: the person who's making the accusation or delegitimizing them in
Speaker 1: in one way or another, um basically calling them crazy,
Speaker 1: the sickly calling them crazy. You know, back during the
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton era, the defense that was commonly made against
Speaker 1: all of the women who came forward with allegations against
Speaker 1: President Clinton was referred to as nuts and sluts because
Speaker 1: women were just being constantly dismissed as either crazy or promiscuous.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think that it is a it's
Speaker 1: a common thing, this praying together. It became a nightly ritual.
Speaker 1: And Elie Anastasia says his mistress pushed things further. She
Speaker 1: was trying to put but it should not be at all, never, never, never,
Speaker 1: because of the world. Chastity first to fall under my
Speaker 1: skirt and I said, whoa stop, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: The mistress pulled back her hand but kept moving her
Speaker 1: body against his. And it was just awful. Elie Anastasia,
Speaker 1: I wanted to tell someone. He tried to describe this thing.
Speaker 1: He didn't understand. In confession, he says, the priest dismissed
Speaker 1: him child. Your Supena knows anco whatever. She would not
Speaker 1: wish anything bad to you. She's your Supiter, listen and
Speaker 1: do what she tells you. Ellie Anastasia thought maybe he
Speaker 1: could phone another priest he knew, but he had to
Speaker 1: ask his mistress for permission to use a pay phone
Speaker 1: in town. Then his mistress stood directly beside him while
Speaker 1: he made the call. It seemed like there was no
Speaker 1: way to tell anyone, so Ellie Anastasia says that the
Speaker 1: abuse continued for months. This type of abuse, he alleges
Speaker 1: abuse by a nun, It tends to fly under the
Speaker 1: radar in the Catholic Church, partly because people don't expect
Speaker 1: women to be abusers. This is a very unaddressed part
Speaker 1: of Catholic Church history. Mary dispense I used to be
Speaker 1: a nun. She now works with SNAP, the Survivors Network
Speaker 1: for those abused by priests. She leads support groups for survivors.
Speaker 1: She's their point person for abuse involving nuns. I have
Speaker 1: probably heard from a hundred and twenty or so survivors
Speaker 1: of of non abuse. It wasn't until after she started
Speaker 1: leading support groups for survivors of none abuse that she
Speaker 1: realized an incident from her own time as a nun
Speaker 1: had been sexual assault. That's how hard it can be
Speaker 1: to recognize none abuse. Sometimes religious orders are a little
Speaker 1: bit different from let's say the clergy, because you build up,
Speaker 1: especially women religious you you really become a family. I
Speaker 1: often say religious abuse within orders men and women is
Speaker 1: very much like incest. The tendencies even greater to keep
Speaker 1: quiet and silent because you don't want to hurst your family.
Speaker 1: And then there's the vow of obedience. They're afraid because
Speaker 1: they're taught. If you ask questions, it's a sin. If
Speaker 1: you doubt anything, it's a sin. This is Tom Doyle.
Speaker 1: He was a Catholic priest for forty years. In the
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, he became one of the first priests to
Speaker 1: draw attention to the clergy sex abuse crisis. He wrote
Speaker 1: a ninety two page report that urged the church to
Speaker 1: take the problem seriously. It was the end of my
Speaker 1: career in the Vatican as as as a priest. Almost
Speaker 1: twenty years later, the National Catholic Reporter wrote that his
Speaker 1: report had been prophetic. Today, Doyle estimates his report has
Speaker 1: been cited in thousands of lawsuits, and he's become a
Speaker 1: global expert. He's worked on or consulted on more than
Speaker 1: a thousand clergy sex abuse cases around the world. He
Speaker 1: says the rigid hierarchy in conservative religious orders like the
Speaker 1: missionaries of charity can trap abuse victims. The religious orders
Speaker 1: where the Mother General or the Mother Superior's word was
Speaker 1: considered to be the word of God, so that even
Speaker 1: if they would tell you, even if the Superior gives
Speaker 1: you an order that is wrong, you have to obey
Speaker 1: it because it's God's word. Now that is insanity. Elianastasia
Speaker 1: learned to follow the rule of obedience years before he
Speaker 1: ever came to India. Back in two thousand eight, six
Speaker 1: years before his time mentioned Sarah, he was just starting out.
Speaker 1: He was an m C pre aspirant in Poland. One
Speaker 1: day he got news that his grandmother, who was like
Speaker 1: a mother to him, had died. The mistress in Poland
Speaker 1: scolded him for crying. Elianastasia asked for permission to go
Speaker 1: home for the funeral, but the mistress said, if you
Speaker 1: want to go to funeral or somewhere else but your thinks,
Speaker 1: to go away and never come back again, or shut
Speaker 1: up and go and smile to your So basically, either
Speaker 1: leave and go to the funeral but never come back,
Speaker 1: or stay but stop crying. Go smile and be a sister.
Speaker 1: And it was just one or two hours after I
Speaker 1: got the phone call about this that all my heart
Speaker 1: was broken. The kids, I choose you and what I
Speaker 1: did I could I for the last time, I went
Speaker 1: and I started to smile. Elianastasia I was eventually dismissed
Speaker 1: from the empty house in Poland. He told us he
Speaker 1: doesn't know why. When we asked the Missionaries of Charity
Speaker 1: for comment, an authorized spokesperson claimed eli Anastasia was dismissed
Speaker 1: because of his personal conduct. The spokesperson said it included
Speaker 1: a claim that he put his hand on the throat
Speaker 1: of a fellow aspirate. The spokesperson also alleges that Elianastasia's
Speaker 1: behavior follows a pattern that he quote enthusiastically enters a
Speaker 1: missionary of charity community, forms an unhealthy emotional attachment with
Speaker 1: one of its members, is rebuffed by that individual, and
Speaker 1: then engages in highly inappropriate behavior, including threats of suicide,
Speaker 1: until asked to leave. Elianastasia says none of this is true.
Speaker 1: Making up rumors and gossips is the only strategy that
Speaker 1: the religious family would choose in this terrible situation. In
Speaker 1: spite of following the way of God who is a
Speaker 1: friend of truth. Eli Anastasia says he wasn't suicidal in Poland.
Speaker 1: He felt being in the empty house in Poland was
Speaker 1: one of the happiest times in his life. And not
Speaker 1: only did he never assault his fellow aspirant, but he
Speaker 1: says the reverse actually happened. A sister who Anastasia says
Speaker 1: was troubled, had attacked him twice, ripping the buttons office shirt. Plus,
Speaker 1: he says that incident happened nearly a year before he
Speaker 1: was asked to go home, and he says during that
Speaker 1: time his superior told him to start sewing as sorry,
Speaker 1: to get ready to move to the next stage. After
Speaker 1: he Poland, Alana Stasia returned home to Russia. He volunteered
Speaker 1: with the MCS in Moscow and then he got a
Speaker 1: second chance to join the Missionaries of Charity. He could
Speaker 1: start again in India. It felt like a miracle. So
Speaker 1: when his mistress in India invited him to these night adorations,
Speaker 1: he worried that if he disobeyed, he'd be sent away again.
Speaker 1: He says the abuse began in the chapel but then
Speaker 1: spread to other parts of the house. In particular mother's room,
Speaker 1: the room in the house where mother Teresa used to stay.
Speaker 1: This is the room of abuse. It wasn't separated by
Speaker 1: a wall, just a bamboo screen and a curtain instead
Speaker 1: of a door. Just every day the same story. She
Speaker 1: was coming in the mother's room around eleven o'clock and
Speaker 1: she was taking off my clothes, she was taking off
Speaker 1: her clothes. She was lying on the bed. She was
Speaker 1: putting me on her on the top, like trying to
Speaker 1: put breast on breast, and just making the movements in
Speaker 1: order to get Aliana. Stash loses his words here, but
Speaker 1: in a letter he sent the m C, he wrote
Speaker 1: that his mistress quote moved her body till she got pleasure.
Speaker 1: She was just constantly repeating about the sacrifice and your
Speaker 1: special one. You're my Jesus, I'm marry You're like Jesus
Speaker 1: to me. You're like Jesus to me. You're like Jesus
Speaker 1: to me, and like she was whispering on my ear.
Speaker 1: This is for the salvation of the world. This is
Speaker 1: for those who are living consen This is for those
Speaker 1: who are not keeping chastity. This is not the scene,
Speaker 1: This is just the sacrifice. One time Elie Anastasia says
Speaker 1: he traveled with his mistress to Calkatta. While they are there,
Speaker 1: the mistress pointed out another nun. She said that sister
Speaker 1: betrayed her. The mistress told Elie Anastasia, I was a
Speaker 1: mother to her. She was my daughter like you, She
Speaker 1: was like my Jesus. Eli Anastasia thought to himself, this
Speaker 1: is my mistress, admitting she's done this before. The mistress
Speaker 1: then turned to Elie Anastasia and said, will you betray
Speaker 1: why are you going to be my judas? For decades,
Speaker 1: the news has been full of stories of sexual abuse
Speaker 1: scandals in the Catholic Church. They started coming to light
Speaker 1: while Mother Teresa was still alive and came close to home.
Speaker 1: I don't know how actually know about Tell McGuire, but
Speaker 1: he was a serial abuser of boys. Terry McKiernan is
Speaker 1: the founder of Bishop Accountability, an organization that documents abuse
Speaker 1: in the Catholic Church. He's referring to Donald McGuire, formerly
Speaker 1: Father Donald Aguire, a Jesuit priest defract into thousand eight.
Speaker 1: Donald McGuire was one of many priests who went to
Speaker 1: prison for sexually abusing boys, and one of the most prominent.
Speaker 1: He was a conservative and inspiring priest with powerful friends.
Speaker 1: His m O was that he targeted wealthy, right wing
Speaker 1: Catholic families, and once he ingratiated himself into that family
Speaker 1: and began cycling off funds, he would also convince them
Speaker 1: to allow their twelve or thirteen year old son to
Speaker 1: accompany him as his secretary. During these trips, which were
Speaker 1: you know, pictually, he was always in the road, he
Speaker 1: would sexually assault the boy who had been taken to
Speaker 1: be his his secretary. McGuire became a spiritual director of
Speaker 1: the Missionaries of Charity. He traveled the world to MC
Speaker 1: houses to hear confessions from m C sisters and held
Speaker 1: dozens of retreats for the order. Mother Teresa also met
Speaker 1: alone with him for confession and spiritual advice. You've actually
Speaker 1: heard about Donald McGuire before. He's the priest who warned
Speaker 1: Joan Worcester not to leave the MCS or she'd get
Speaker 1: divorced and have children with disabilities. In the ninet nineties,
Speaker 1: McGuire was removed from his position in the church because
Speaker 1: of abuse allegations. The San Francisco Weekly published a letter
Speaker 1: that appeared to be written by Mother Teresa, though it
Speaker 1: wasn't signed in it. She worried about the reputation of
Speaker 1: the priesthood. She said she trusted McGuire and she wished
Speaker 1: to quote see his vital ministry resume as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: McGuire did return, an allegation soon emerged that his abuse continued.
Speaker 1: In an emailed statement, the mc spokesperson said they didn't
Speaker 1: believe Mother Teresa personally wrote the letter supporting McGuire, and
Speaker 1: that McGuire had deceived Mother Teresa and betrayed her trust.
Speaker 1: In two thousands, Donald McGuire went to trial for abuse.
Speaker 1: Mother Teresa's successor sister near Malajoshi, sent a letter to
Speaker 1: the judge defending his character. The sisters, and they're very distinctive,
Speaker 1: guard attended the trial to support him. There are pictures
Speaker 1: of this in the courthouse. The sisters wore buttons on
Speaker 1: their saries that read I support father McGuire. The sisters
Speaker 1: were very very present at that trial. In the end,
Speaker 1: he was convicted and sent to prison for twenty five years.
Speaker 1: What happened with Donald McGuire and the m C S
Speaker 1: It gives me a sense of how the congregation responds
Speaker 1: to sexual abuse from the top down. And that's what
Speaker 1: I think this episode is about, not just how a
Speaker 1: culture can enable abuse, but also how a system works
Speaker 1: when abuse comes to light. It makes me think of
Speaker 1: a story Mary Johnson told me. You've heard from Mary
Speaker 1: Johnson throughout this series. One time she told me something
Speaker 1: that caught my attention, a story that seemed to shed
Speaker 1: light on the culture of the congregation when it comes
Speaker 1: to sexual assault. There was one time there was a
Speaker 1: sister she was very upset about something. Mary had a
Speaker 1: lot of responsibility. She traveled with Mother Teresa. She prepared
Speaker 1: sisters her final vows, basically upper management. She says. She
Speaker 1: told me at one point that she learned about something
Speaker 1: that happened to several sisters in Europe. There was a
Speaker 1: terrible thing that happened um in a convent in a
Speaker 1: remote location, and one night men broke into the convent
Speaker 1: and they raped the sisters, and it was a really
Speaker 1: horrible thing. Mary says this story was somewhat common knowledge
Speaker 1: among sisters. With authority. She heard about it from several nuns,
Speaker 1: including one who was there that night. Another former sister
Speaker 1: told us she had heard about the same attack, also
Speaker 1: direct from my sister who had been there she said
Speaker 1: it was whispered about in Calcutta but considered top secret.
Speaker 1: In Mary Johnson's case, she says she helped one of
Speaker 1: the nuns from that convent prepare for final vows. The
Speaker 1: sister told Mary that the victims talked to Mother Teresa
Speaker 1: about the attack and mother told them, now you have
Speaker 1: told Mother, you must never tell anyone else again. You
Speaker 1: must never speak of it. And obviously this is not
Speaker 1: going to be helpful to those sisters. Those sisters had
Speaker 1: had this very traumatic experience. You don't heal from trauma
Speaker 1: by ignoring it. Why do you think Mother Teresa said
Speaker 1: that to them, to not speak of it ever again.
Speaker 1: She would often say that for various things, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you've told mother, now, never speak of it again, for
Speaker 1: various things. For Mother, speaking about bad things that had
Speaker 1: happened was almost as bad, or even worse than the
Speaker 1: fact that the thing had happened. Mary says, Mother Teresa
Speaker 1: just didn't understand how trauma worked, that hiding something could
Speaker 1: make it worse, and that brings us to Batilda. Batilda
Speaker 1: asked us not to use her last name. She's sixty
Speaker 1: two years old and lives in Paris, and she was
Speaker 1: once a sister with the Missionaries of Charity. The first letter.
Speaker 1: Over the past eighteen years, she's written a lot of letters.
Speaker 1: They describe abuse she says she experienced in the order,
Speaker 1: letters to the head of the Missionaries of Charity, letters
Speaker 1: to the Vatican. Yes, I have itch in front of me.
Speaker 1: The first letter in two thousand three was to a
Speaker 1: sister her we're not naming her alleged abuser. I think
Speaker 1: you remember me. I was your postonate in Rome, in
Speaker 1: Schandri Guru around the year night in the one that
Speaker 1: you have sexually abused. It was in that convent in
Speaker 1: San Gregorio that she met the sister who she says
Speaker 1: sexually abused her her mistress, but till it, says, at
Speaker 1: first the mistress just directed her as she would any pastilant.
Speaker 1: But a few weeks in her mistress told her she
Speaker 1: loved her. Then things became physical. After night prayer, she
Speaker 1: would sitcom and then sitting in the bench and she
Speaker 1: would kiss me, and I mean, I don't like to
Speaker 1: see it, she would oh, I mean she would kiss me.
Speaker 1: She would put my breast. She would tell me, wonder,
Speaker 1: I will take your clothes all out and I will
Speaker 1: kiss you everywhere, but she only saying she did not
Speaker 1: do I knew that every day it would happen, That's
Speaker 1: all I But Tilda did what she could to avoid her,
Speaker 1: but that angered her. Mistress, you have to you have
Speaker 1: to obey me. You're very disobedient. In time, she says,
Speaker 1: the abuse became more forceful. She would check me and
Speaker 1: we were to get that big corridor. She would push
Speaker 1: me again the wall or walking in front of me,
Speaker 1: and then turned suddenly and taking me in to her arms.
Speaker 1: And I mean I could not I could not escape.
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't know what to do. But he'ld
Speaker 1: says she didn't dare tell the regional superior. She just
Speaker 1: yelled at her. She told multiple priests, but says they
Speaker 1: were no help, that they pretended not to hear her
Speaker 1: and changed the subject. She says mother Teresa once asked
Speaker 1: her if someone was bothering her, but that she said
Speaker 1: nothing for fear of being scolded. But Tilda outwardly changed
Speaker 1: during this time. She remembers the regional superior reprimanded her,
Speaker 1: why are you not smiling? You never smile? I mean
Speaker 1: I could not smile. I was it was difficult. Eventually
Speaker 1: she gave up. She felt empty. Just let her do
Speaker 1: and I did not defend my shift. Batild graduated out
Speaker 1: of postulancy and was transferred to Poland. The abuse was over.
Speaker 1: It was a relief, so much so she remarked one
Speaker 1: day how nice it was to be there, and according
Speaker 1: to Batilde, the superior there overheard and asked what she meant.
Speaker 1: She started to tell her story and the superior stopped her.
Speaker 1: You don't need to go any further, She said, I
Speaker 1: know who it is. She named Batilde's mistress and said
Speaker 1: she did the same to another sister. Batild superior urged
Speaker 1: her to repeat the story to the regional superior, so
Speaker 1: she did, but she says the regional reacted with disdain.
Speaker 1: She told Batilde, I knew you were a kind of
Speaker 1: sister like that. Years later, when Batilde confronted the order
Speaker 1: with her allegations, both the superior and the regional superior
Speaker 1: said they didn't recall those conversations. When the time came,
Speaker 1: Batilde was not permitted to take her vows. She says
Speaker 1: she wasn't told why. Instead, she was abruptly sent home.
Speaker 1: After two years, she asked to rejoin the MCS. She
Speaker 1: was accepted into the Contemplative Branch. Contemplative days were quiet,
Speaker 1: filled with prayer, but in that silence she started having
Speaker 1: flashbacks and trouble sleeping. She says. She reached out to
Speaker 1: Sister Nermala Joshi, the founder of the Contemplative Branch. She
Speaker 1: told Sister Nermala about the abuse. In response, Batilde says,
Speaker 1: Sister Nermala encouraged her to see a psychologist. And one
Speaker 1: more thing, she told me, if you don't speak to
Speaker 1: anybody of what happened, you speak to nobody, absolutely nobody.
Speaker 1: So I mean that afternoon I didn't speak to anybody,
Speaker 1: and then our having very much pain in this stock,
Speaker 1: and then that was not the good thing to say,
Speaker 1: not to speak to anybody. In time, but Tilda was
Speaker 1: sent home again dismissed from the m c s. And
Speaker 1: again it wasn't clear why, just a vague suggestion that
Speaker 1: she wasn't obedient enough. They dropped her off at the
Speaker 1: airport with four dollars and a miraculous medal, one of
Speaker 1: those tokens Mother Teresa used to give out. But Tild
Speaker 1: went home to Paris years past. That brings us back
Speaker 1: to the letter writing around two thousand three. But Tilda
Speaker 1: read in the newspaper about the global sexual abuse scandal
Speaker 1: on the Catholic Church. She was still haunted by her
Speaker 1: own experience. She decided to write a letter. She thought,
Speaker 1: maybe an acknowledgement or an apology will help me heal
Speaker 1: and I will feel much better and I will feel
Speaker 1: all right. I mean all my life is ruined for
Speaker 1: me or my life she damaged everything, So she wrote
Speaker 1: to her former mistress, you made my life very difficult.
Speaker 1: It was very difficult to pray because of flashback coming
Speaker 1: in my head, lack of trust, paint in the stomach,
Speaker 1: and lack of trustworthy superiors. How do you repair all that?
Speaker 1: She also sent a copy to Sister Nermala, the sister
Speaker 1: who'd sent her to a psychologist and told her never
Speaker 1: to speak of it. By now, Sister Nermala was actually
Speaker 1: the Superior General Mother Teresa's successor to lead the m
Speaker 1: c S a couple of weeks later, but tilt her
Speaker 1: back from her former mistress. She flatly denied the allegations.
Speaker 1: I have done nothing to bring upon me such an accusation,
Speaker 1: she wrote. Then, she ended the letter, I am praying
Speaker 1: for you and asking the Lord to forgive you. I
Speaker 1: felt very very bad at little very bad. She also
Speaker 1: received a response from Sister Nermala, the head of the
Speaker 1: m IS at the time. Dear Batilde, thank you for
Speaker 1: the copy of your letter to sister date fourth November
Speaker 1: two or three, accusing her of sexually abusing you when
Speaker 1: you were a postulate. I was deeply pained when I
Speaker 1: read it. In the letter, Sister Nermala said, she spoke
Speaker 1: to the alleged abuser, and that quote, the mature way
Speaker 1: in which she responded to such a painful situation, leaves
Speaker 1: me no room to doubt her sincerity. Then, Sister Nermala
Speaker 1: addressed betheled herself, I wonder what made you write such
Speaker 1: a letter. Is it really true? Or is it because
Speaker 1: you are so hurt in life that you can't help
Speaker 1: hurting others also? Whatever it may be, I ask Jesus
Speaker 1: to take away all the burden of pain you carry
Speaker 1: in your heart and feed it with his own love,
Speaker 1: so that you may be able to forgive all who
Speaker 1: have hurt you, and ask pardon of all whom you
Speaker 1: have heard, and to be tilled. The message was clear,
Speaker 1: she was the one causing problems. Case closed, no follow up,
Speaker 1: no investigation, no apology with much love and prayer. God
Speaker 1: bless you, Sister Namala MC. This did not deterpret held,
Speaker 1: she wrote. Sister Nermala back the next month in December
Speaker 1: two thousand three, no response. Again in June two, no response.
Speaker 1: In November two thousand four, she wrote again, Please sister,
Speaker 1: do not put down a sister who has suffered from
Speaker 1: sexual harassment, otherwise you victimize her. A second time, more silence.
Speaker 1: Finally sister Nermala responded. It was late January two. Sister
Speaker 1: Nermala wrote, we want to know the truth. Truth must prevail.
Speaker 1: She said the m c S had a policy and
Speaker 1: procedure to follow, and we're starting an investigation. She also
Speaker 1: said but Tilt would send any evidence she had to
Speaker 1: prove her accusations. Batilda went into overdrive. She gathered letters
Speaker 1: from family members and her old psychologist. Her sister wrote
Speaker 1: that after leaving the m c S, Batilde suffered from
Speaker 1: flashbacks and her face was dull. Batilde mailed it all
Speaker 1: to the Missionaries of Charity. The m c said they
Speaker 1: would contact Batilda quote at the appropriate time, but Batilde
Speaker 1: says she was never told what was involved or who
Speaker 1: was being talked to. You For the investigation, she received
Speaker 1: no follow up questions, nothing. Frustrated, she wrote to officials
Speaker 1: in the Catholic hierarchy. They offered Batilda empathy but little else. Eventually,
Speaker 1: a year and a half later, in two thousand six,
Speaker 1: the church sent batilda response. It says, quote, it appears
Speaker 1: that material evidence which could support your accusations against the
Speaker 1: sister beyond any doubt, is missing. Actually there is only
Speaker 1: one testimony, yours against the sister's word. Again, case closed.
Speaker 1: To this day, Matilda says she's never seen any official
Speaker 1: report or other documentation of the investigation, and to this
Speaker 1: day she says what her mistress did affects her. Prayer
Speaker 1: is difficult to pray, and but I do. I do.
Speaker 1: I feel hard in everything. I feel like I feel
Speaker 1: like like um if I don't exist, it's like a big,
Speaker 1: infinite devastation of the being. May I want the truth,
Speaker 1: That's all, and I'm not getting it. In two thousand seventeen,
Speaker 1: Buttild renewed her letter writing campaign. She wrote the Pope Francis,
Speaker 1: who had said sympathetic things about victims. She didn't hear
Speaker 1: back from him. She heard from the Vatican's Office on
Speaker 1: Religious Orders. They offer allegations, and eventually they warned that
Speaker 1: if she continued to say the church had treated her unfairly,
Speaker 1: she could face legal action for slander. Elliana Stasia couldn't sleep,
Speaker 1: or really, his mistress wouldn't let him sleep. It was
Speaker 1: in the conventation Sarah India. He uses he him pronounced now.
Speaker 1: He says his mistress abused him almost every night for months.
Speaker 1: She kept him up until an hour or two before
Speaker 1: in the morning. Bell I was a zombie. I don't
Speaker 1: I didn't understand what I'm doing. I could not really
Speaker 1: really even separate the reality and not reality because you're
Speaker 1: sleeping or not sleeping. It was just one day, which
Speaker 1: is not finishing. One night, Elie Anastasia and his mistress
Speaker 1: heard a sound. Somebody nearby used the bathroom and then
Speaker 1: left quickly. Eli Anastasia figure the sister must have overheard them.
Speaker 1: For sure, everybody heard it. It is just not possible
Speaker 1: not to hear. Then, out of the blue, a senior
Speaker 1: sister from EMC headquarters visited the house. She interviewed Elianastasia's
Speaker 1: fellow postulant for an entire day. Soon after, Elie Anastasia
Speaker 1: says he was abruptly summon to call cut up by
Speaker 1: Sister Auntie, the head of the MC's contemplative branch, and
Speaker 1: she said, I want to talk to you. I have
Speaker 1: a conversation. Please come on Wednesday, but by the way,
Speaker 1: can you pick up all your clothes and things. Elianastasia's
Speaker 1: mistress was summoned to. When they arrived, Sister Auntie spoke
Speaker 1: to the mistress for first. They talked for over an hour.
Speaker 1: Then it was Elie Anastasia's turn. Hello, sister, and she's
Speaker 1: starting to shout at me. You have to go out
Speaker 1: from here with the minute, sister. I can't understand what
Speaker 1: is going on, like I'm leaving then Insura, I cannot
Speaker 1: understand what is happening, Like what is the reason you
Speaker 1: called me? Can you explain me what you want from me?
Speaker 1: Ellie Anastasia is being sent away, not just from Chinsura,
Speaker 1: not just from India. But he would find out later
Speaker 1: from the missionaries of charity, and he didn't know why.
Speaker 1: In an email to us, the MC spokesperson suggested that
Speaker 1: Eli Anastasia was dismissed because of his personal conduct. The
Speaker 1: spokesperson implied he had become fixated on a fellow sister
Speaker 1: and acted inappropriately. Elie Anastasia says no one said anything
Speaker 1: like this to him. There was no pat like, no
Speaker 1: no breaking, nothing, nothing, nothing, he says. He asked again
Speaker 1: and again why he was being sent away. Finally, he says,
Speaker 1: sister as he told him that since Eli Anastasia was
Speaker 1: Russian and Vladimir Putin had invaded Ukraine, his presence might
Speaker 1: cause problems for the sisters in Chanceurra. I can't understand,
Speaker 1: really what is what is the reason? Because what I
Speaker 1: have to do with As far as he knew, no
Speaker 1: sister had ever been sent away from the MCS for
Speaker 1: something like this. After all, once you're called, you're called
Speaker 1: for life. He was given a plane ticket home to Russia.
Speaker 1: As for his mistress, Eliana Sassia says she also got
Speaker 1: a ticket, she was transferred to another MC branch in Nepal.
Speaker 1: Once he was back in Russia, Eli Anastasia fell into
Speaker 1: a deep depression. I Frank, he state with, had to
Speaker 1: force him to eat. I was just at vegetable, out
Speaker 1: of reality, fully, no desires, nothing, nothing. He didn't have
Speaker 1: the language to explain what had happened to him. For
Speaker 1: a few months, he was suicidal. One day He spent
Speaker 1: a long time alone in a chapel in front of
Speaker 1: the altar, pleading with God. So on the question to God,
Speaker 1: why if you gave me this vocation to be a nun,
Speaker 1: why it had happened? How you allowed to deal with it?
Speaker 1: How you how I should leave with that? Where is
Speaker 1: the way you called me? And what shall I do now?
Speaker 1: With all that? I cannot even understand what is going on?
Speaker 1: Crying and shouting to Jesus, and crying and shouting still.
Speaker 1: Eventually ali Anastasia met other people who had suffered traumatic experiences.
Speaker 1: They gave him the words he needed, sexual abuse PTSD.
Speaker 1: Over time he h maybe there are other victims in
Speaker 1: the Missionaries of Charity, and if I couldn't name what happened,
Speaker 1: how could they. In five years after he was forced
Speaker 1: from the order, Elie Anastasia wrote a letter your sisters.
Speaker 1: This letter is written in fulfillment of the instruction of
Speaker 1: my spiritual father, and it is addressed to Reverend Sister
Speaker 1: Prema as the head of the Society of the Missionaris
Speaker 1: of Charity. The main topic of this letter sexual and
Speaker 1: spiritual abuse. Eli Anastasia laid out what had happened to him.
Speaker 1: I wanted to have a dialogue about the society first,
Speaker 1: just to share my story, because my main aim to
Speaker 1: change the neglect. Three months later, he got a phone call.
Speaker 1: It was Sister Prema, the current Superior General of the MCS.
Speaker 1: She asked Eli Anastasia what exactly did he want them
Speaker 1: to do for him. So Eli Anastasia wrote a list
Speaker 1: of systematic changes. Provide ed occasion in training on sexual violence,
Speaker 1: support past victims with psychological care, financially compensate sisters who
Speaker 1: leave their vocation, especially sisters from underdeveloped countries. Offer rehabilitation
Speaker 1: for perpetrators and prevent them from serving in positions of power.
Speaker 1: I was asking calls with Sister Prema to appoint a
Speaker 1: proper person to whom any sisters anyone in the society
Speaker 1: can freely without permission, without asking permission for a phone call,
Speaker 1: conturn and to report. In response, the MCS commissioned a
Speaker 1: Cannon lawyer to look at the case. A cannon lawyer
Speaker 1: is someone accredited to work within the Catholic Church's internal
Speaker 1: legal system. My name is Helen Costigan. I'm a member
Speaker 1: of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. I live
Speaker 1: in hammer Smith in London, and I teach model theology
Speaker 1: and canon law submitties University in Twickenham. Helen Costigan's job
Speaker 1: was to investigate the claims of abuse, but she told
Speaker 1: us she wasn't actually able to conduct a full investigation.
Speaker 1: The scissors were too hard to reach, often in remote
Speaker 1: locations with bad connections and no computers. But Helen Costigan
Speaker 1: wrote a report. The spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity
Speaker 1: said in an email to us that Costigan's report concluded
Speaker 1: there was quote no concrete evidence to afford the allegations.
Speaker 1: She did say that, but it's not all she said.
Speaker 1: I says there is no evidence to support the allegations,
Speaker 1: but that's not to say that it didn't happen. Like Elianastasia,
Speaker 1: she told the m cs they should make changes, provide
Speaker 1: training and maintaining proper boundaries, create an external channel to
Speaker 1: report abuse, and psychologically assessed sisters when they enter. She
Speaker 1: said the m c s should look at Pope Francis's
Speaker 1: new guidelines on sexual abuse, which expressly forbid retaliation against victims.
Speaker 1: That's something's Pope Francis has said. You have to listen
Speaker 1: to the victims. A supportant, Costigan asked Ellianastasia to total
Speaker 1: his expenses related to his trauma, and she told the
Speaker 1: MCS to follow up about compensation. Finally, she asked the
Speaker 1: MCS to give Elianastasia a copy of the official report,
Speaker 1: but the Missionaries of Charity didn't do that. Instead, in February,
Speaker 1: they sent Ellianastasia a letter. It insinuated that his allegations
Speaker 1: were just a ruse for money, that Elianastasia should quote
Speaker 1: be careful, and then they wrote this what you have
Speaker 1: written could be considered blackmail. We would not want to
Speaker 1: jeopardize your situation or create unnecessary liability issues. She's just
Speaker 1: threatening me with the blackmail. If I would not have
Speaker 1: such a support like now on that letter, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I would be suicide. Though, Costigan was concerned enough that
Speaker 1: she responded to the MC's directly, writing, I was appalled
Speaker 1: by the tone and content. Is putting it mildly because
Speaker 1: I have to see I thought, oh, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: really you know, that's not helping the Sames. After Costigan's letter,
Speaker 1: the MCS did send Alianastasia the report, but now he
Speaker 1: worried he could be at legal risk, so he looked
Speaker 1: for a lawyer he found his way to Tom Doyle,
Speaker 1: the former priest be heard from earlier, who has worked
Speaker 1: on more than a thousand clergy sex abuse cases. He's
Speaker 1: also a cannon lawyer. He consulted pro bono on Alianastasia's
Speaker 1: case for a few months. In one this spring, they
Speaker 1: parted ways after a disagreement about a partner in legal group,
Speaker 1: but Doyle says he still believes Elianastasia's allegations and supports
Speaker 1: the case. Elianastasia hopes to continue his case, not a
Speaker 1: criminal complaint, depress charges or a civil complaint for compensation.
Speaker 1: He wants to enter a cannon law process with the Vatican.
Speaker 1: He wants to convince the church to investigate abuse and
Speaker 1: neglect in the missionaries of charity. He hopes to start
Speaker 1: a class action complaint for people who have suffered similar
Speaker 1: abuse or neglect from the m c s. And still
Speaker 1: I have nothing against the sisters itself. I have nothing
Speaker 1: against the church itself. Still today have wonderful sisters who
Speaker 1: are really living their vocation as they can and trying
Speaker 1: to do the best they can. I'm against the system.
Speaker 1: We should embrace our faults, to change, to take responsibility
Speaker 1: for the nection you know, it's interesting to me here
Speaker 1: and you say that because it's bringing to my mind
Speaker 1: that speaking your faults and acknowledging your failure, it's such
Speaker 1: a big part of being a missionary of charity. And
Speaker 1: so in a sense, what you're asking for is actually
Speaker 1: very central to the mission, which is to acknowledge sin
Speaker 1: or acknowledge faults and making amends in some way. And
Speaker 1: that's what you want. Yeah, to the emishonnaries of charity,
Speaker 1: there are really witnesses of silence, to cover up, to hide,
Speaker 1: to silence others. That's not a silence in which God leaves.
Speaker 1: It is completely opposite. God is not a friend of
Speaker 1: covering up the oppression. God is a friend of truth.
Speaker 1: Preach the truth as if you had million voices. It
Speaker 1: is silence that kills the world. This episode was reported
Speaker 1: in partnership with Type Investigations. You can find out more
Speaker 1: at Type investigations dot org. Special thanks to reporter Catherine Joyce,
Speaker 1: editor Sasha Blankie, fact checker n Denny Ratti, and editor
Speaker 1: Sarah blu Stain. The Turning is written by Allen lance
Speaker 1: Lesser and me. Our producers are Allen lance Lesser and
Speaker 1: Emily Foreman. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal. Andrea swah is
Speaker 1: our digital producer. Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Special
Speaker 1: thanks to Adeleine Sere, Marie Claire Jovois, Amy Gaines, Sarah
Speaker 1: oh Lander, Murad Frishkoff, Bethan Macaluso, Travis Dunlap, and consulting
Speaker 1: producer Mary Johnson. Her memoir and Unquenchable Thirst provided inspiration
Speaker 1: for this series. Our executive producers are Jessica Albert and
Speaker 1: John Parratti at Rococo Punch and Katrina Norvella I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is by Matt Reid. For photos and
Speaker 1: more details on this series, follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Rococo Punch. You can reach out via email to the
Speaker 1: Turning at Rococo Punch dot com. I am Erica Lands.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. M