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Local nuns are surveyed
The idea to interview Catholic nuns about sexual victimization came from Wolf, then a graduate student at St. Louis University.
In the early 1990s, Wolf was researching previously published work on sexual victimization and the clergy when she came across two different studies on sexual harassment. One involved a survey of female Jewish rabbis; the other involved a survey of women in the United Methodist Church.
Of the women rabbis, 73 percent said they had been a victim of sexual harassment. Of United Methodist Church women surveyed, 77 percent said they had been sexually harassed.
A lifelong Catholic, Wolf could find no similar surveys of Catholic nuns and suggested the project.
The first step was a pilot study not intended for publication. The pilot survey was done through the Program for Psychology and Religion with the St. Louis University Health Sciences Center. Duckro, director of the psychology and religion program, led the survey effort. Chibnall was responsible for the conceptual, methodological and statistical portions of the project.
The research team first contacted provincial leadership of three orders of Catholic nuns in the St. Louis area and asked to survey their members for the pilot study.
In late January 1995, surveys were mailed to 855 sisters in 37 states and four foreign countries. More than half of the surveys were mailed to nuns living in Missouri. Ultimately, 578 nuns returned a completed survey.
The researchers declined to release the names of the three orders surveyed for the pilot study.
The pilot study - which showed incidences of sexual exploitation and sexual harassment similar to the later national survey - concluded that the data "suggest that sexual history and sexuality are critical areas to bring to the fore in the formation and ongoing formation of women religious."
"Many women have had experiences of sexual victimization and many have not found the courage to discuss it," the pilot study found. "Religious communities can become more inviting with regard to discussions of sexuality, but it will require education and structure. Women need to know that they are not alone in their experiences."
The pilot survey also found that nearly half of all nuns had been involved in some sort of consensual sex during their religious lives, often with other nuns or priests.
Many of those relationships lasted several months or years and were described by several of the women as "loving, respectful and caring." Others described the relationships as "inappropriate, humiliating or harmful."
The pilot survey warned of strong "emotional inhibitions" against coming forward to report sexual victimization. "There is fear of unleashing powerful forces which will lead to more trouble than benefit." The report of the pilot survey also said it was hoped the survey information could be more widely disseminated "without attracting undue interest from the public news media."
The national study
The SLU researchers began work on the national survey in June 1995. In that survey, researchers debated whether to include questions regarding consensual sex and, in the end, decided against it.
Duckro said he believed that the section dealing with consensual sex was a "distracting" part of the study.
"I didn't think it was a big issue," Duckro said. "What we really wanted to know about was abuse, exploitation and harassment."
For the national survey, the researchers went to the Maryland-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious and asked for contact information for the 538 orders in the leadership group.
Of those orders, 123 agreed to take part in the survey and supplied researchers with the names and addresses of their members.
From the 29,000 names provided, researchers used random sampling to pare the list to 2,500 nuns who were sent questionnaires. Of those women, 1,164 returned completed surveys.
The average age of the nuns surveyed was 62; the average time in religious life was 42 years.
Researchers said few of the survey results were surprising, but they admit that the information was disturbing.
"Women suffer, all women," Duckro said. "Under the surface, people are people. The stories of all people can be so sad."
Chibnall called the nuns "strong, bright, highly educated women" who were "willing to admit there was abuse going on and they wanted to make it better."
Wolf said her work on the survey was so painful that she decided not to make it the focus of her doctoral thesis: "I didn't want to devote my life to something that could have been very depressing."
Little action since study
The national study was paid for, in part, by several orders of Catholic nuns. Among them was the St. Louis-based Franciscan Sisters of Mary, with 165 current members, most in Missouri.
Sister Sherri Coleman, who serves on the order's leadership team, said her order felt the work was important.
"We have always been supportive of one another," she said, adding that the survey results may have created an "increased awareness" of the victimization of women in the church. "Hopefully, it has made us more sensitive to one another," she said.
She said she is aware of no new programs that the Sisters of Mary implemented as a direct result of the survey.
Another backer of the national survey was the St. Louis-based Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, with 518 sisters in the St. Louis area.
Sister Mary K. Liston, one of three members of the order's leadership group, said she was not involved in the decision to help finance the national survey.
But she said her order felt the survey was a way to "educate and work toward the compassionate healing of our women if they had experienced abuse." She said the results showed "we were not any different from the rest of the population."
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which provided researchers with addresses to contact member orders, took no action following the study.
The current executive director says she does not believe the conference distributed the survey results or sought any policy changes.
The director, Carole Shinnick, said "it is not within LCWR's mission to directly respond to the needs of women who were victimized. It is the responsibility of their own congregations."
Shinnick, a therapist who worked almost exclusively with Catholic nuns for 12 years, said she knows firsthand the care given to abused nuns.
"My experience of LCWR congregations in responding to their members is that they are pastoral, generous and patient with the recovering person," Shinnick said.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the group was not aware of the nun survey and had not addressed the issue. That group, headed by Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, has taken a leading role in the debate over new policies in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal.
Researcher Wolf, who now works in Catholic education, said few nuns have come forth publicly to talk about their experiences. She said that is no surprise. Many may feel shame or guilt and recognize they could have a lot to lose if they come forward.
"These women have to ask themselves what are the benefits and what are the costs," she said. "The church is the only corporation in town."
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