The Indian Women Theologians Forum (IWTF) has expressed solidarity with a nun who dared to complain against a bishop who allegedly had abused sexually for over a period of two years.

“We are pained that her appeals for justice in the Church were met with silence,” the forum said in a press release on October 1. It justified the nun’s move to complain to the police, saying she was “left with no option but to go to the civil authorities to seek justice.”

The forum said it was “appalled” at the way many within the Church heaped condemnation and contempt on her.

“Church leadership has failed to understand the impact sexual abuse has on a victim – the trauma that a victim had to undergo to process the abuse from someone who is a spiritual leader who takes the place of God in her life,” explains the press release signed by forum secretary Virginia Saldanha and members Kochurani Abraham and Sister Manju Kulapuram. The women theologians say they stand by the nun because the two years of sexual abuse have affected her mentally and spiritually.