Conciliar new religious movements in the Catholic Church acting like sects and scandal magnets. An example.
She spent 20 years within the Institute of the Incarnate Word, which she joined at just 18 years old. She changed her name to "Esposa Fidelis" and was a faithful "servant" until she had had enough and left the order, which is now under investigation by the Vatican. She left with nothing, as she stated in an interview with Colpisa. She hadn't been paid into Social Security, she had no right to unemployment benefits, and she had no health insurance. She only earned 500 euros. "I never imagined I would be hungry, cold, and up until three in the morning without knowing where to sleep."
"I left when I was 38, I'd never worked in my life, I have no education, only theological studies, which, at least if they were valid, if I had a valid degree, I could start from there, but for the world, I haven't studied anything," she says, referring to her departure. “It was as if I was transported from one planet to another. I left without knowing how to open a bank account, without friends, without relationships with anyone.” Her case is not unique, according to the Network for the Prevention of Sects and Abuse of Weakness (Redune), which advises Esposa Fidelis and others on taking their cases to court. “Those who come can't file complaints because they're left on the streets. In the end, they work, work, and work without social security, and they'll be like that until they die. It's a situation that occurs in the ecclesiastical sphere, whether Catholic or Evangelical, and in institutions.”
The Drama of Former members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word
Not only that: there was also coercion to keep them from leaving the order, just as there was to enter. “The priests of the Incarnate Word begin to see you as the chosen one. Not just with me, with a lot of others. The priest looks at you, calls you, closes the office door, and says: I see something in you, you're ready to do a retreat. I had made my Communion and Confirmation, I went to Mass occasionally, but at that moment I didn't feel called by God, not at all, but I thought it was important,” says ‘Esposa Fidelis’.
For us, the first act of courage, the greatest you can do before God, is against your own blood parents, your own family.
Thus, she entered the Servants of the Lord and of the Virgin of Matará, the female branch of the IVE, present in 44 countries. ‘Esposa Fidelis’, originally from Brazil, has been in centres of the order in the Canary Islands and Catalonia. She left her hometown, breaking ties with her parents because, “for us, the first act of courage, the greatest you can do before God, is against your own blood parents, your own family.”
From that moment on, she began a life of semi-slavery: “All the years I've been a nun, from the very beginning, I got up at six in the morning, and after Mass and Adoration, I had to clean, cook, sew, and iron. Whatever the priest asked. On weekends, I gave catechism to the children.”
“Your whole world is there, with a very rigid schedule, set so everyone does the same thing, at the same time. Every day is the same, and you're obliged to go to confession once a week,” she recounts. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and left, after years of seeing psychiatrists and faking a suicide attempt. With nothing but the clothes on my back. No recognized education, no years of contributions, no papers. No dreams. Although they didn't steal her faith: "It's difficult to remain a believer, but I'm not going to deny the existence of God because I'm too intelligent for that. It's not a question of denying it, but the relationship with God is wounded. It's completely wounded. Spirituality sounds like the Incarnate Word to me, and entering a church is like reliving a trauma. Every time I try to enter a Church, I end up in a fit of rage, and I prefer to leave," concludes 'Esposa Fidelis'. "When I think about my youth, I see that I've wasted my life. The only clear dream I had was to have a family, to have children."
There is no lacking in other awful examples
Cathcon: Better by far a proper religious vocation in a traditional order
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