Annastasia Kinse, a former reverend sister and the first woman from her village in Plateau State to take religious vows, has come forward with serious allegations of sexual harassment and institutional cover-up within the Catholic Church.
In a deeply personal interview with The Punch, Kinse recounted the troubling experiences she faced during her time with the Congregation of Mother of Perpetual Help of the Archangels Sisters, where she served for nearly ten years before her eventual dismissal.
Speaking candidly, Kinse revealed that her time in religious life was marked not only by spiritual dedication but also by encounters with disturbing misconduct from certain members of the clergy.
When asked whether she had experienced any harassment within the Church, she responded, “Yes. Apart from the university case, another priest also made sexual advances toward me. He said he wanted to be ‘the first man to sleep with me.’ I rejected him, not just him, but others too.”
Kinse said her refusals did not come without consequences. She was quickly branded a “wicked person” by some priests, who she claimed resented her for not being, in their view, “forthcoming.” According to her, the rejection of these advances led to a smear campaign against her character, both within the convent and beyond.
She further disclosed that her superiors were not only aware of the harassment but also complicit in covering it up. “They were covering up much of what had happened,” she stated, expressing disappointment that those who should have protected her chose instead to shield the institution and their colleagues. She said this pattern of silence was rooted in fear that revealing one case would expose a much larger problem within the system.
Kinse’s decision to speak out, she said, was met with discouragement from within. She recalled being told that reporting the abuse would lead nowhere. “I was told that speaking up was a waste of time and that no one would come to my aid,” she said.
Despite the institutional resistance, Kinse remains hopeful. She believes there are still people who care about justice and accountability, and who will not turn a blind eye to her story. “The online community, human rights activists, and those who value justice would not ignore my story,” she said, adding that her hope rests in people outside the system that failed her.
Her dismissal from the congregation, she suggests, was less about any wrongdoing on her part and more about a structure that punishes those who refuse to conform to silence. Kinse said she no longer wanted to be part of a system that reduced her to a “commodity,” or that expected her to endure abuse in silence in order to preserve the Church’s reputation.
“I refused to remain part of a system that diminished my worth and treated me like a commodity,” she concluded.Continue, Full, Reading>>>>
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