S1: Ep 7 - Silence

that's what we'll do. Ellie Anastasia always loved silence. Praying in silence brought him closer to God. He's found of a quote from Mother Teresa. In the silence, God speaks. It is not the empty silence, silence field with the presence presence something which is greater than human being, then universe, than anything else, the presence of something which is untouchable. But now silence is painful. Since he left the Missionaries

of Charity, he avoids it. So I guess he leaves a television on when he's at home, especially at night, to make some kind of noise. Why do you think silence is hard because it comes back. The mmur is back. Maybe the most probably night is connected to the time when everything was happening. This anxiety again comes and the memories comes back. Never Never, I can sleep in silence from Rococo Punch and I Hurt Radio. This is the turning. I'm Erica Lance Part seven silence. Um, all right, I'm

just gonna press record on my end. Let's see so your headphones are plugged in, right, Yeah. When we video chat, Ellie Anastasia smiles a lot in this earnest almost shy way testing testing. Yeah. Ellie Anastasia is thirty three years old. He's originally from Russia. There's the sweetness that radiates from him when he talks. He always wears a cap on his head with all his hair tucked into it. Today, Ellie Anastasia calls himself a human rights defender. He advocates

for the LGBTQ community and abuse victims. But back he was twenty six years old and he was a pastilant in the Missionaries of Charity. He was stationed in West Bengal, India and a city culture Sarah. It's a small city by Indian standards, about three people even though they were in a city, ali Anastasia says, the empty house felt isolated, like they were living off the map. There weren't many Christians in the area, and without cars, they had to walk two hours to get to a church for Mass

on Sunday. No television, no ragio, no news in general in the city. We never knew what was happening. It's very hot. Sometimes it is horrible raining, a lot of monkeys just throwing everything around you. Despite the isolation and the monkeys that tore up the MC's garden, Elianastasia loved being there. I was so happy that my aim was just I want to serve God. I love God. I just want to live a proper life and to pray

and to love the poor and soul. He asked his fellow sisters how to say words in Bengali so he could talk to the people who lived there. Please teach me how to tell him God loves you. I have to tell people about love. I was just happy person. He remembers the first time he met his mistress, the nun in charge of his spiritual formation and day to day life. The mistress was also the superior of the house.

Usually those positions are separate, so it was like the mistress was both Elie Anastasia's boss and his boss's boss. Something control was just frightening me. Maybe it was just psychological because my vocations dependent on their first person, or I don't know, but Elie Anastasia told me after he'd been there a couple of weeks, the mistress, who are not naming, started showing him special attention. She ate meals

with him, just the two of them. She talked about mutual acquaintances, she empathized with challenges Eli Anastasia had faced in the past. In one conversation, his mistress said she'd received a message from the Virgin Mary that Mary told her to become Elie Anastasia's spiritual mother, his personal mentor and guide. Elie Anastasia showed us a note he says he received from his mistress. It says, my dear little spiritual child, thank you for accepting me as your spiritual mum,

and then mourns this note is only for you. All of this seemed strange, given MC rules against close friendship and special attention, but Ellie Anastasia didn't question it. It wasn't his place to question. Then, one evening, they were in the sacristy, a room off the chapel. They were alone. Ellie Anastasia's mistress asked him to sit next to her on a stool. Then the mistress stood up and pulled Elie Anastasia's head to her belly. She held it there.

She uttered these phrases like she was soothing him. Mother medic, You need so much attention, you need special attention and care. And like I'm seeking at what's going on? Why she's doing like that? Because it was lasting half or forty minutes. That that was so long. How to react? She's superior, she's mistress. What she's doing, I don't understand. I'm just praying this gut, let it stop. What is going on? Around this time, Elie Anastasia says his mistress began sexualizing

their day to day interactions. At the breakfast table, she read aloud letters from Mother Teresa that mentioned issues like masturbation. Sometimes in class, she read from a controversial spiritual text that hinted an incestuous relationship between Jesus and his mother Mary. Elie Anastasia thought, this is bizarre, but he kept to his duties. But everything turned worse I don't know how many weeks past, maybe two or three weeks from the

beginning of the past. His mistress asked if he wanted to join her for night adoration, basically a prayer session. Elie Anastasia was excited. It was a chance for real silence, no sounds, no know, it's just to just undergotten you and this is wonderful. After the evening bell rang at ten pm, Ellie Anastasia went to the chapel. His mistress sat close and shared stories from her life. By two or three am, Elie Anastasia was falling asleep. He asked for permission to go to bed, got a couple of

hours of rest Before the morning bell. The next day, the mistress asked him again, please join me for night prayers. Elie Anastasia was sleep deprived from the night before, but agreed again. They stayed in the chapel until early in the morning. Ellie Anastasia says, this time, when he started to nod off, the mistress pulled his head onto her lap. Then the mistress repeated the odd phrases. Mother Mighty asked me to be your mother. I will be a good

mother to you. Just got once to your night with you and so on, like she's lulling you because you're so tired. Yeah, you understand. I can't understand how it happened because in one second she started ahead and then finding that she's putting her breast into my mouth. I'm lying, lying then and like she's putting her breath, but I breast into my mouth. I'm paralyzed that moment, what is going on? And she speaking something It was something like

Mother Mary was feeding Jesus. And then I'm just paralyzed, and I don't know what to do because her breast in my mouth, and that's awful. Just and I don't know how long it was going on. Actually it was like everything for me, everything stopped. Then there was a noise from the staircase, someone walking near the chapel. The mistress quickly covered herself with her Sorry again, Elianastasia. I didn't know what to make of what was happening. He

had no words. He grew up sheltered, no talk of sexual abuse, and he says he never received any training from the missionaries of charity about sexual harassment or what constitutes an appropriate behavior, even though this was a superior the direct voice of God something felt incredibly wrong. How does possible something like that to happen in front of

the blessed sacrament the holiest of holy. Stories about sexual abuse are often really hard to investigate, and it's even harder in a group like this that's closed to outsiders. So we partnered with an investigative reporting team type Investigations, and we worked with reporter Katherine Joyce. So, Catherine, you know, we don't know where sisters are stationed. In some cases, we might not even know if they're in the order anymore.

We don't know their real or secular names, and their mail is read by their superior so if we send them a letter, it might not even get to them. Yeah, I think that this was one of the things that was more challenging about reporting this story than any other

that I've done. It is such an insular group. There's a mother's period who like is ultimately making a decision about whether or not people can speak to us, and that insularity is so much more formalized than in a lot of other groups that I've looked at um Over the past decade plus, I've I've reported on this a number of times, sometimes looking at abuse in specific Catholic churches sometimes looking at big fundamentalist or evangelical institutions, um,

whether that's someplace like Bob Jones University or a very large overseas mission group that has a lot of members. So I've I've seen this sort of stuff in in different settings before, and I think that there are some similarities. But one thing that was pretty interesting in this case is that there was a substantial paper trail. Yeah. I mean, we collected a lot of documents about this story, and Eli Anastasia isn't the only person with an allegation of

sexual abuse in the MCS. We also spoke with another former sister named Betilde, and we're going to get to her story a little later. To confirm both stories, we reviewed legal documents, church investigation reports, emails from the MCS regarding their policies. Plus we had dozens of letters that both Batilde and eli Anastasia had been sending back and forth with the m c's or other members of the Catholic hierarchy, other people in their lives, sort of testifying

to what had happened to them. We really did want to hear from the missionaries of charity on this, and we we wrote to them several times. We sent them a comprehensive list of questions. They didn't answer those questions, but we did get a statement from an MC spokesperson who told us that the alleged abusers vehemently denied the allegations. Yeah, we we asked to speak to them directly, um, but

the MCS declined. That spokesperson also told us that the fact that Elianastasia and Bettild quote believe they were abused is without question, but continued that the evidence compiled and the investigations the missionaries of charity conducted contradicts their accusations. They're basically saying that they investigated the abuse and they say that the abuse did not happen. Yep. You know.

The other thing that stuck out to me in this response is the suggestion that these former sisters both had mental health problems. They also emphasized that neither of them took vows, basically implying that they weren't real missionaries of charity,

sort of as a defense against these allegations. You know, there there is a long history of responding to rape allegations or abuse allegations by denigrating the mental health of the person who's making the accusation or delegitimizing them in in one way or another, um basically calling them crazy,

the sickly calling them crazy. You know, back during the Bill Clinton era, the defense that was commonly made against all of the women who came forward with allegations against President Clinton was referred to as nuts and sluts because women were just being constantly dismissed as either crazy or promiscuous. I mean, I just think that it is a it's a common thing, this praying together. It became a nightly ritual.

And Elie Anastasia says his mistress pushed things further. She was trying to put but it should not be at all, never, never, never, because of the world. Chastity first to fall under my skirt and I said, whoa stop, what are you doing? The mistress pulled back her hand but kept moving her body against his. And it was just awful. Elie Anastasia, I wanted to tell someone. He tried to describe this thing. He didn't understand. In confession, he says, the priest dismissed

him child. Your Supena knows anco whatever. She would not wish anything bad to you. She's your Supiter, listen and do what she tells you. Ellie Anastasia thought maybe he could phone another priest he knew, but he had to ask his mistress for permission to use a pay phone in town. Then his mistress stood directly beside him while he made the call. It seemed like there was no way to tell anyone, so Ellie Anastasia says that the

abuse continued for months. This type of abuse, he alleges abuse by a nun, It tends to fly under the radar in the Catholic Church, partly because people don't expect women to be abusers. This is a very unaddressed part of Catholic Church history. Mary dispense I used to be a nun. She now works with SNAP, the Survivors Network for those abused by priests. She leads support groups for survivors.

She's their point person for abuse involving nuns. I have probably heard from a hundred and twenty or so survivors of of non abuse. It wasn't until after she started leading support groups for survivors of none abuse that she realized an incident from her own time as a nun had been sexual assault. That's how hard it can be to recognize none abuse. Sometimes religious orders are a little bit different from let's say the clergy, because you build up,

especially women religious you you really become a family. I often say religious abuse within orders men and women is very much like incest. The tendencies even greater to keep quiet and silent because you don't want to hurst your family. And then there's the vow of obedience. They're afraid because they're taught. If you ask questions, it's a sin. If you doubt anything, it's a sin. This is Tom Doyle.

He was a Catholic priest for forty years. In the nineteen eighties, he became one of the first priests to draw attention to the clergy sex abuse crisis. He wrote a ninety two page report that urged the church to take the problem seriously. It was the end of my career in the Vatican as as as a priest. Almost twenty years later, the National Catholic Reporter wrote that his report had been prophetic. Today, Doyle estimates his report has been cited in thousands of lawsuits, and he's become a

global expert. He's worked on or consulted on more than a thousand clergy sex abuse cases around the world. He says the rigid hierarchy in conservative religious orders like the missionaries of charity can trap abuse victims. The religious orders where the Mother General or the Mother Superior's word was considered to be the word of God, so that even if they would tell you, even if the Superior gives you an order that is wrong, you have to obey

it because it's God's word. Now that is insanity. Elianastasia learned to follow the rule of obedience years before he ever came to India. Back in two thousand eight, six years before his time mentioned Sarah, he was just starting out. He was an m C pre aspirant in Poland. One day he got news that his grandmother, who was like a mother to him, had died. The mistress in Poland

scolded him for crying. Elianastasia asked for permission to go home for the funeral, but the mistress said, if you want to go to funeral or somewhere else but your thinks, to go away and never come back again, or shut up and go and smile to your So basically, either leave and go to the funeral but never come back, or stay but stop crying. Go smile and be a sister. And it was just one or two hours after I got the phone call about this that all my heart

was broken. The kids, I choose you and what I did I could I for the last time, I went and I started to smile. Elianastasia I was eventually dismissed from the empty house in Poland. He told us he doesn't know why. When we asked the Missionaries of Charity for comment, an authorized spokesperson claimed eli Anastasia was dismissed because of his personal conduct. The spokesperson said it included a claim that he put his hand on the throat

of a fellow aspirate. The spokesperson also alleges that Elianastasia's behavior follows a pattern that he quote enthusiastically enters a missionary of charity community, forms an unhealthy emotional attachment with one of its members, is rebuffed by that individual, and then engages in highly inappropriate behavior, including threats of suicide, until asked to leave. Elianastasia says none of this is true. Making up rumors and gossips is the only strategy that

the religious family would choose in this terrible situation. In spite of following the way of God who is a friend of truth. Eli Anastasia says he wasn't suicidal in Poland. He felt being in the empty house in Poland was one of the happiest times in his life. And not only did he never assault his fellow aspirant, but he says the reverse actually happened. A sister who Anastasia says

was troubled, had attacked him twice, ripping the buttons office shirt. Plus, he says that incident happened nearly a year before he was asked to go home, and he says during that time his superior told him to start sewing as sorry, to get ready to move to the next stage. After he Poland, Alana Stasia returned home to Russia. He volunteered with the MCS in Moscow and then he got a second chance to join the Missionaries of Charity. He could

start again in India. It felt like a miracle. So when his mistress in India invited him to these night adorations, he worried that if he disobeyed, he'd be sent away again. He says the abuse began in the chapel but then spread to other parts of the house. In particular mother's room, the room in the house where mother Teresa used to stay. This is the room of abuse. It wasn't separated by a wall, just a bamboo screen and a curtain instead

of a door. Just every day the same story. She was coming in the mother's room around eleven o'clock and she was taking off my clothes, she was taking off her clothes. She was lying on the bed. She was putting me on her on the top, like trying to put breast on breast, and just making the movements in order to get Aliana. Stash loses his words here, but in a letter he sent the m C, he wrote that his mistress quote moved her body till she got pleasure.

She was just constantly repeating about the sacrifice and your special one. You're my Jesus, I'm marry You're like Jesus to me. You're like Jesus to me. You're like Jesus to me, and like she was whispering on my ear. This is for the salvation of the world. This is for those who are living consen This is for those who are not keeping chastity. This is not the scene, This is just the sacrifice. One time Elie Anastasia says he traveled with his mistress to Calkatta. While they are there,

the mistress pointed out another nun. She said that sister betrayed her. The mistress told Elie Anastasia, I was a mother to her. She was my daughter like you, She was like my Jesus. Eli Anastasia thought to himself, this is my mistress, admitting she's done this before. The mistress then turned to Elie Anastasia and said, will you betray why are you going to be my judas? For decades, the news has been full of stories of sexual abuse

scandals in the Catholic Church. They started coming to light while Mother Teresa was still alive and came close to home. I don't know how actually know about Tell McGuire, but he was a serial abuser of boys. Terry McKiernan is the founder of Bishop Accountability, an organization that documents abuse in the Catholic Church. He's referring to Donald McGuire, formerly Father Donald Aguire, a Jesuit priest defract into thousand eight.

Donald McGuire was one of many priests who went to prison for sexually abusing boys, and one of the most prominent. He was a conservative and inspiring priest with powerful friends. His m O was that he targeted wealthy, right wing Catholic families, and once he ingratiated himself into that family and began cycling off funds, he would also convince them to allow their twelve or thirteen year old son to

accompany him as his secretary. During these trips, which were you know, pictually, he was always in the road, he would sexually assault the boy who had been taken to be his his secretary. McGuire became a spiritual director of the Missionaries of Charity. He traveled the world to MC houses to hear confessions from m C sisters and held dozens of retreats for the order. Mother Teresa also met alone with him for confession and spiritual advice. You've actually

heard about Donald McGuire before. He's the priest who warned Joan Worcester not to leave the MCS or she'd get divorced and have children with disabilities. In the ninet nineties, McGuire was removed from his position in the church because of abuse allegations. The San Francisco Weekly published a letter that appeared to be written by Mother Teresa, though it wasn't signed in it. She worried about the reputation of

the priesthood. She said she trusted McGuire and she wished to quote see his vital ministry resume as soon as possible. McGuire did return, an allegation soon emerged that his abuse continued. In an emailed statement, the mc spokesperson said they didn't believe Mother Teresa personally wrote the letter supporting McGuire, and that McGuire had deceived Mother Teresa and betrayed her trust. In two thousands, Donald McGuire went to trial for abuse.

Mother Teresa's successor sister near Malajoshi, sent a letter to the judge defending his character. The sisters, and they're very distinctive, guard attended the trial to support him. There are pictures of this in the courthouse. The sisters wore buttons on their saries that read I support father McGuire. The sisters were very very present at that trial. In the end, he was convicted and sent to prison for twenty five years.

What happened with Donald McGuire and the m C S It gives me a sense of how the congregation responds to sexual abuse from the top down. And that's what I think this episode is about, not just how a culture can enable abuse, but also how a system works when abuse comes to light. It makes me think of a story Mary Johnson told me. You've heard from Mary

Johnson throughout this series. One time she told me something that caught my attention, a story that seemed to shed light on the culture of the congregation when it comes to sexual assault. There was one time there was a sister she was very upset about something. Mary had a lot of responsibility. She traveled with Mother Teresa. She prepared sisters her final vows, basically upper management. She says. She told me at one point that she learned about something

that happened to several sisters in Europe. There was a terrible thing that happened um in a convent in a remote location, and one night men broke into the convent and they raped the sisters, and it was a really horrible thing. Mary says this story was somewhat common knowledge among sisters. With authority. She heard about it from several nuns,

including one who was there that night. Another former sister told us she had heard about the same attack, also direct from my sister who had been there she said it was whispered about in Calcutta but considered top secret. In Mary Johnson's case, she says she helped one of the nuns from that convent prepare for final vows. The sister told Mary that the victims talked to Mother Teresa about the attack and mother told them, now you have told Mother, you must never tell anyone else again. You

must never speak of it. And obviously this is not going to be helpful to those sisters. Those sisters had had this very traumatic experience. You don't heal from trauma by ignoring it. Why do you think Mother Teresa said that to them, to not speak of it ever again. She would often say that for various things, like, Okay, you've told mother, now, never speak of it again, for various things. For Mother, speaking about bad things that had happened was almost as bad, or even worse than the

fact that the thing had happened. Mary says, Mother Teresa just didn't understand how trauma worked, that hiding something could make it worse, and that brings us to Batilda. Batilda asked us not to use her last name. She's sixty two years old and lives in Paris, and she was once a sister with the Missionaries of Charity. The first letter. Over the past eighteen years, she's written a lot of letters.

They describe abuse she says she experienced in the order, letters to the head of the Missionaries of Charity, letters to the Vatican. Yes, I have itch in front of me. The first letter in two thousand three was to a sister her we're not naming her alleged abuser. I think you remember me. I was your postonate in Rome, in Schandri Guru around the year night in the one that

you have sexually abused. It was in that convent in San Gregorio that she met the sister who she says sexually abused her her mistress, but till it, says, at first the mistress just directed her as she would any pastilant. But a few weeks in her mistress told her she loved her. Then things became physical. After night prayer, she would sitcom and then sitting in the bench and she would kiss me, and I mean, I don't like to see it, she would oh, I mean she would kiss me.

She would put my breast. She would tell me, wonder, I will take your clothes all out and I will kiss you everywhere, but she only saying she did not do I knew that every day it would happen, That's all I But Tilda did what she could to avoid her, but that angered her. Mistress, you have to you have to obey me. You're very disobedient. In time, she says, the abuse became more forceful. She would check me and

we were to get that big corridor. She would push me again the wall or walking in front of me, and then turned suddenly and taking me in to her arms. And I mean I could not I could not escape. I mean I didn't know what to do. But he'ld says she didn't dare tell the regional superior. She just yelled at her. She told multiple priests, but says they were no help, that they pretended not to hear her

and changed the subject. She says mother Teresa once asked her if someone was bothering her, but that she said nothing for fear of being scolded. But Tilda outwardly changed during this time. She remembers the regional superior reprimanded her, why are you not smiling? You never smile? I mean I could not smile. I was it was difficult. Eventually she gave up. She felt empty. Just let her do and I did not defend my shift. Batild graduated out

of postulancy and was transferred to Poland. The abuse was over. It was a relief, so much so she remarked one day how nice it was to be there, and according to Batilde, the superior there overheard and asked what she meant. She started to tell her story and the superior stopped her. You don't need to go any further, She said, I know who it is. She named Batilde's mistress and said

she did the same to another sister. Batild superior urged her to repeat the story to the regional superior, so she did, but she says the regional reacted with disdain. She told Batilde, I knew you were a kind of sister like that. Years later, when Batilde confronted the order with her allegations, both the superior and the regional superior said they didn't recall those conversations. When the time came, Batilde was not permitted to take her vows. She says

she wasn't told why. Instead, she was abruptly sent home. After two years, she asked to rejoin the MCS. She was accepted into the Contemplative Branch. Contemplative days were quiet, filled with prayer, but in that silence she started having flashbacks and trouble sleeping. She says. She reached out to Sister Nermala Joshi, the founder of the Contemplative Branch. She told Sister Nermala about the abuse. In response, Batilde says,

Sister Nermala encouraged her to see a psychologist. And one more thing, she told me, if you don't speak to anybody of what happened, you speak to nobody, absolutely nobody. So I mean that afternoon I didn't speak to anybody, and then our having very much pain in this stock, and then that was not the good thing to say, not to speak to anybody. In time, but Tilda was sent home again dismissed from the m c s. And again it wasn't clear why, just a vague suggestion that

she wasn't obedient enough. They dropped her off at the airport with four dollars and a miraculous medal, one of those tokens Mother Teresa used to give out. But Tild went home to Paris years past. That brings us back to the letter writing around two thousand three. But Tilda read in the newspaper about the global sexual abuse scandal on the Catholic Church. She was still haunted by her

own experience. She decided to write a letter. She thought, maybe an acknowledgement or an apology will help me heal and I will feel much better and I will feel all right. I mean all my life is ruined for me or my life she damaged everything, So she wrote to her former mistress, you made my life very difficult. It was very difficult to pray because of flashback coming in my head, lack of trust, paint in the stomach, and lack of trustworthy superiors. How do you repair all that?

She also sent a copy to Sister Nermala, the sister who'd sent her to a psychologist and told her never to speak of it. By now, Sister Nermala was actually the Superior General Mother Teresa's successor to lead the m c S a couple of weeks later, but tilt her back from her former mistress. She flatly denied the allegations. I have done nothing to bring upon me such an accusation, she wrote. Then, she ended the letter, I am praying for you and asking the Lord to forgive you. I

felt very very bad at little very bad. She also received a response from Sister Nermala, the head of the m IS at the time. Dear Batilde, thank you for the copy of your letter to sister date fourth November two or three, accusing her of sexually abusing you when you were a postulate. I was deeply pained when I read it. In the letter, Sister Nermala said, she spoke to the alleged abuser, and that quote, the mature way in which she responded to such a painful situation, leaves

me no room to doubt her sincerity. Then, Sister Nermala addressed betheled herself, I wonder what made you write such a letter. Is it really true? Or is it because you are so hurt in life that you can't help hurting others also? Whatever it may be, I ask Jesus to take away all the burden of pain you carry in your heart and feed it with his own love, so that you may be able to forgive all who have hurt you, and ask pardon of all whom you have heard, and to be tilled. The message was clear,

she was the one causing problems. Case closed, no follow up, no investigation, no apology with much love and prayer. God bless you, Sister Namala MC. This did not deterpret held, she wrote. Sister Nermala back the next month in December two thousand three, no response. Again in June two, no response. In November two thousand four, she wrote again, Please sister, do not put down a sister who has suffered from sexual harassment, otherwise you victimize her. A second time, more silence.

Finally sister Nermala responded. It was late January two. Sister Nermala wrote, we want to know the truth. Truth must prevail. She said the m c S had a policy and procedure to follow, and we're starting an investigation. She also said but Tilt would send any evidence she had to prove her accusations. Batilda went into overdrive. She gathered letters from family members and her old psychologist. Her sister wrote that after leaving the m c S, Batilde suffered from

flashbacks and her face was dull. Batilde mailed it all to the Missionaries of Charity. The m c said they would contact Batilda quote at the appropriate time, but Batilde says she was never told what was involved or who was being talked to. You For the investigation, she received no follow up questions, nothing. Frustrated, she wrote to officials in the Catholic hierarchy. They offered Batilda empathy but little else. Eventually, a year and a half later, in two thousand six,

the church sent batilda response. It says, quote, it appears that material evidence which could support your accusations against the sister beyond any doubt, is missing. Actually there is only one testimony, yours against the sister's word. Again, case closed. To this day, Matilda says she's never seen any official report or other documentation of the investigation, and to this day she says what her mistress did affects her. Prayer is difficult to pray, and but I do. I do.

I feel hard in everything. I feel like I feel like like um if I don't exist, it's like a big, infinite devastation of the being. May I want the truth, That's all, and I'm not getting it. In two thousand seventeen, Buttild renewed her letter writing campaign. She wrote the Pope Francis, who had said sympathetic things about victims. She didn't hear back from him. She heard from the Vatican's Office on

Religious Orders. They offer allegations, and eventually they warned that if she continued to say the church had treated her unfairly, she could face legal action for slander. Elliana Stasia couldn't sleep, or really, his mistress wouldn't let him sleep. It was in the conventation Sarah India. He uses he him pronounced now. He says his mistress abused him almost every night for months. She kept him up until an hour or two before in the morning. Bell I was a zombie. I don't

I didn't understand what I'm doing. I could not really really even separate the reality and not reality because you're sleeping or not sleeping. It was just one day, which is not finishing. One night, Elie Anastasia and his mistress heard a sound. Somebody nearby used the bathroom and then left quickly. Eli Anastasia figure the sister must have overheard them. For sure, everybody heard it. It is just not possible not to hear. Then, out of the blue, a senior

sister from EMC headquarters visited the house. She interviewed Elianastasia's fellow postulant for an entire day. Soon after, Elie Anastasia says he was abruptly summon to call cut up by Sister Auntie, the head of the MC's contemplative branch, and she said, I want to talk to you. I have a conversation. Please come on Wednesday, but by the way, can you pick up all your clothes and things. Elianastasia's mistress was summoned to. When they arrived, Sister Auntie spoke

to the mistress for first. They talked for over an hour. Then it was Elie Anastasia's turn. Hello, sister, and she's starting to shout at me. You have to go out from here with the minute, sister. I can't understand what is going on, like I'm leaving then Insura, I cannot understand what is happening, Like what is the reason you called me? Can you explain me what you want from me? Ellie Anastasia is being sent away, not just from Chinsura,

not just from India. But he would find out later from the missionaries of charity, and he didn't know why. In an email to us, the MC spokesperson suggested that Eli Anastasia was dismissed because of his personal conduct. The spokesperson implied he had become fixated on a fellow sister and acted inappropriately. Elie Anastasia says no one said anything like this to him. There was no pat like, no no breaking, nothing, nothing, nothing, he says. He asked again

and again why he was being sent away. Finally, he says, sister as he told him that since Eli Anastasia was Russian and Vladimir Putin had invaded Ukraine, his presence might cause problems for the sisters in Chanceurra. I can't understand, really what is what is the reason? Because what I have to do with As far as he knew, no sister had ever been sent away from the MCS for something like this. After all, once you're called, you're called for life. He was given a plane ticket home to Russia.

As for his mistress, Eliana Sassia says she also got a ticket, she was transferred to another MC branch in Nepal. Once he was back in Russia, Eli Anastasia fell into a deep depression. I Frank, he state with, had to force him to eat. I was just at vegetable, out of reality, fully, no desires, nothing, nothing. He didn't have the language to explain what had happened to him. For a few months, he was suicidal. One day He spent a long time alone in a chapel in front of

the altar, pleading with God. So on the question to God, why if you gave me this vocation to be a nun, why it had happened? How you allowed to deal with it? How you how I should leave with that? Where is the way you called me? And what shall I do now? With all that? I cannot even understand what is going on? Crying and shouting to Jesus, and crying and shouting still. Eventually ali Anastasia met other people who had suffered traumatic experiences.

They gave him the words he needed, sexual abuse PTSD. Over time he h maybe there are other victims in the Missionaries of Charity, and if I couldn't name what happened, how could they. In five years after he was forced from the order, Elie Anastasia wrote a letter your sisters. This letter is written in fulfillment of the instruction of my spiritual father, and it is addressed to Reverend Sister Prema as the head of the Society of the Missionaris

of Charity. The main topic of this letter sexual and spiritual abuse. Eli Anastasia laid out what had happened to him. I wanted to have a dialogue about the society first, just to share my story, because my main aim to change the neglect. Three months later, he got a phone call. It was Sister Prema, the current Superior General of the MCS. She asked Eli Anastasia what exactly did he want them to do for him. So Eli Anastasia wrote a list

of systematic changes. Provide ed occasion in training on sexual violence, support past victims with psychological care, financially compensate sisters who leave their vocation, especially sisters from underdeveloped countries. Offer rehabilitation for perpetrators and prevent them from serving in positions of power. I was asking calls with Sister Prema to appoint a proper person to whom any sisters anyone in the society can freely without permission, without asking permission for a phone call,

conturn and to report. In response, the MCS commissioned a Cannon lawyer to look at the case. A cannon lawyer is someone accredited to work within the Catholic Church's internal legal system. My name is Helen Costigan. I'm a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. I live in hammer Smith in London, and I teach model theology

and canon law submitties University in Twickenham. Helen Costigan's job was to investigate the claims of abuse, but she told us she wasn't actually able to conduct a full investigation. The scissors were too hard to reach, often in remote locations with bad connections and no computers. But Helen Costigan wrote a report. The spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity said in an email to us that Costigan's report concluded there was quote no concrete evidence to afford the allegations.

She did say that, but it's not all she said. I says there is no evidence to support the allegations, but that's not to say that it didn't happen. Like Elianastasia, she told the m cs they should make changes, provide training and maintaining proper boundaries, create an external channel to report abuse, and psychologically assessed sisters when they enter. She said the m c s should look at Pope Francis's new guidelines on sexual abuse, which expressly forbid retaliation against victims.

That's something's Pope Francis has said. You have to listen to the victims. A supportant, Costigan asked Ellianastasia to total his expenses related to his trauma, and she told the MCS to follow up about compensation. Finally, she asked the MCS to give Elianastasia a copy of the official report, but the Missionaries of Charity didn't do that. Instead, in February,

they sent Ellianastasia a letter. It insinuated that his allegations were just a ruse for money, that Elianastasia should quote be careful, and then they wrote this what you have written could be considered blackmail. We would not want to jeopardize your situation or create unnecessary liability issues. She's just threatening me with the blackmail. If I would not have such a support like now on that letter, I don't know,

I would be suicide. Though, Costigan was concerned enough that she responded to the MC's directly, writing, I was appalled by the tone and content. Is putting it mildly because I have to see I thought, oh, that's that's that's really you know, that's not helping the Sames. After Costigan's letter, the MCS did send Alianastasia the report, but now he worried he could be at legal risk, so he looked for a lawyer he found his way to Tom Doyle, the former priest be heard from earlier, who has worked

on more than a thousand clergy sex abuse cases. He's also a cannon lawyer. He consulted pro bono on Alianastasia's case for a few months. In one this spring, they parted ways after a disagreement about a partner in legal group, but Doyle says he still believes Elianastasia's allegations and supports the case. Elianastasia hopes to continue his case, not a criminal complaint, depress charges or a civil complaint for compensation. He wants to enter a cannon law process with the Vatican.

He wants to convince the church to investigate abuse and neglect in the missionaries of charity. He hopes to start a class action complaint for people who have suffered similar abuse or neglect from the m c s. And still I have nothing against the sisters itself. I have nothing against the church itself. Still today have wonderful sisters who are really living their vocation as they can and trying to do the best they can. I'm against the system.

We should embrace our faults, to change, to take responsibility for the nection you know, it's interesting to me here and you say that because it's bringing to my mind that speaking your faults and acknowledging your failure, it's such a big part of being a missionary of charity. And so in a sense, what you're asking for is actually very central to the mission, which is to acknowledge sin or acknowledge faults and making amends in some way. And

that's what you want. Yeah, to the emishonnaries of charity, there are really witnesses of silence, to cover up, to hide, to silence others. That's not a silence in which God leaves. It is completely opposite. God is not a friend of covering up the oppression. God is a friend of truth. Preach the truth as if you had million voices. It is silence that kills the world. This episode was reported in partnership with Type Investigations. You can find out more

at Type investigations dot org. Special thanks to reporter Catherine Joyce, editor Sasha Blankie, fact checker n Denny Ratti, and editor Sarah blu Stain. The Turning is written by Allen lance Lesser and me. Our producers are Allen lance Lesser and Emily Foreman. Our editor is Rob Rosenthal. Andrea swah is

our digital producer. Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Special thanks to Adeleine Sere, Marie Claire Jovois, Amy Gaines, Sarah oh Lander, Murad Frishkoff, Bethan Macaluso, Travis Dunlap, and consulting producer Mary Johnson. Her memoir and Unquenchable Thirst provided inspiration for this series. Our executive producers are Jessica Albert and John Parratti at Rococo Punch and Katrina Norvella I Heart Radio.

Our theme music is by Matt Reid. For photos and more details on this series, follow us on Instagram at Rococo Punch. You can reach out via email to the Turning at Rococo Punch dot com. I am Erica Lands. Thanks for listening. M