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Report: Women Speak Of Nuns Allegedly Sexually Abusing Them When They Were Kids

   DailyWire.com

A new report says that it is not only some Catholic priests who have targeted children in pedophilic activities, but various nuns have allegedly engaged in pedophilic actions with children as well.

CBS News broadcast a segment with reporter Nikki Battiste in which Battiste detailed instances of nuns abusing children. The segment began by noting an organization titled The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

SNAP writes on its website:

For at least eight years, victims of child molesting nuns and members of SNAP have repeatedly urged America’s largest organization of nuns to expose the truth about child sex crimes and cover ups by women religious. But the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) continues to essentially rebuff us and them. Now more than ever, since they’re being attacked by bishops like we have been (and are being), nuns should be sympathetic to our plight. It grieves us to have to keep prodding them to take long-overdue, simple steps to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. But how can we do otherwise?

A former nun who works with SNAP, Mary Dispenza , said by working with SNAP she periodically heard of instances where nuns abused children sexually, noting that since a grand jury named hundreds of priests who were pedophiles in Pennsylvania, at least 18 people informed her that they had been subject to sexual abuse by nuns.

Dispenza told CBS News, “The demands of chastity and celibacy are unrealistic demands for many of us.” She recalled her own experience when a superior told her to come to her room: “I knelt down right next to her and she kissed me all over softly, my face … and I want to say, ‘Oh but it wasn’t bad,’ but it was. And I’ve carried it with me until today.” When Battiste asked her why there had not been news about abuse by nuns before, Dispenza answered, “A lot has to do with the culture of nuns which are, they are very, very private by nature.”

Battiste interviewed a woman named Trish Cahill, who spoke of her alleged abuse when she was 15. Cahill said she told a nun named Eileen Shaw at a convent in New Jersey her dark secret: that her uncle, a priest who had since died, had allegedly sexually abused her from the time she was five years old. Cahill said of Shaw, “I would have done anything for her. I would have died for her. She gave me everything that was lacking that I didn’t even know I was lacking. I was so broken. She filled in all those pieces.”

But Cahill alleged Shaw was “grooming” her, utilizing drugs and alcohol while she initiated a sexual relationship with her. Cahill remembered, “I’m with my friends during the day. And I’m with this pedophile nun on the evenings and on the weekends, and in the summer.” In 1994, Cahill reported Shaw’s actions to the sisters of charity of St. Elizabeth, which settled with her out of court for $70,000. She said, “They had canon lawyers on retainer just for people like me. Shut her up, pacify her, tell her you love her and you’ll pray for her, and send her on her way.”

The congregation told CBS News, “The case was investigated immediately when it was reported in 1994 and a settlement was reached that was mutually agreed on by all parties. We believe that the Sisters of Charity acted in a responsible manner.”

Commenting on the fact that no one had spoken about a problem with nuns being pedophiliacs before, Cahill answered, “That’s really a shame. Because there’s a lot of them out there … it’s the secret not yet told.”

Shaw no longer works as a grade school principal; CBS said she still remains a nun.

Cahill said she wants to bring the issue of possible abuse by nuns to the light of day, saying, “That this is the beginning of many, many times more that I get to speak and I get to educate, and I get to, possibly, prevent this from happening to anyone ever again.”

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