Obeying God’s Plan? The Spiritual Abuse of Nuns

Abstract

This study proposes that the term ‘spiritual abuse’ is helpful for an understanding of systemic mistreatment experienced by six former-nuns who belonged to the community ‘Servants of God’s Plan’ (Siervas del Plan de Dios, or SPD) in Peru, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. None of the nuns reported sexual abuse, so the focus in this chapter is on spiritual abuse not sexual abuse. However, when sexual abuse takes place within a religious institution, it is very common for spiritual abuse to be an enabling factor. A better understanding of spiritual abuse can therefore contribute to a better church response to sexual abuse.