Author: Sister Jesme
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 178
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143067085

Description

On 31 August 2008, Sister Jesme left the Congregation of Mother of Carmel. The authorities repeated attempts to have her declared insane, she says, left her no other option. This book, a first of its kind in India, is an outpouring of her experiences as a nun for thirty-three years.

Spirited and fun-loving, from a good family, deeply-rooted in Catholicism, Jesme was drawn to religious life at seventeen after a Retreat at junior college. As a nun, seven years later, she felt distressed at the many ills growing inside the convent and being forced to remain silent about them. There was corruption, by way of donations for college seats; sexual relations between some priests and nuns, and between nuns; class distinctions whereby the cheduthies, or poorer and less-educated sisters, did menial jobs; and a wide gap between comforts and facilities enjoyed by the priests and nuns.

Jesme was permitted to complete her doctorate in English Literature, to pursue her passion for literature, cinema and teaching college students. She exposed them to classic films, believing that aesthetics enhances spirituality. But these joys were clouded by the troubles she faced.

Searing, sincere, and sensitive, Amen is a plea for a reformation of the Church and comes at a time of its growing concern about nuns and priests. It affirms Jesmes unbroken spirit and faith in Jesus and the Church, living like a nun, but outside the Four Walls of the convent.

COMMENTS

This taboo-breaking nuns story is devastating in its honesty, and gripping in its directness. A remarkable read.
-Paul Zacharia

Contents

Acknowledgements
Authors Note

Escape in Disguise: Prologue

1.Jesus Calls
2.The White Lotus
3.The Celestial Thistles
4.Braving the Crazy Waves
5.The Safe Anchorage

Afterword: The Divine Majority