Amen  (English, Paperback, Sister Jesme)

Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun, by Sister Jesme, is a detailed account of her life and the events that prevail in the present-day church system in Kerala.

Summary of the Book

Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun depicts the experiences of Sister Jesme as a nun. Strongly influenced by Catholicism due to her extremely religious upbringing, Jesme’s childhood was comparatively eventless, with a strong desire to serve as a nun. Also she was allowed to continue her academic life as a nun, and she studied English Literature and even taught college students. She occasionally showed the students select movies, to help them widen their understanding of life. But her experiences turned sour when she became directly involved in troubles within the church. This book is a result of her helplessness in the face of difficulty, as she experienced biased and sexually unusual practices that shook her moral beliefs. A regular spectator of the unspoken activities in the church, she penned Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun, after she left the Congregation of Mother of Carmel in 2008, where she had served for thirty three years. The book met uneven reactions, and religious authorities tried to portray Jesme as mentally ill, as her book reveals some disgraceful incidents that she was exposed to, including sexual relationships between nuns and priests, and even among nuns themselves. In the book, she also addresses issues like the biased college admission procedure, and the class distinction between nuns of higher caste and lower caste, and how lower caste nuns were often given strenuous and tedious tasks. Through Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun, Sister Jesme has pleaded for a change in the way churches function in India, without any sort of prejudices or biases.

About Sister Jesme

Sister Jesme is a teacher and a part-time writer. She was born as Meamy Raphael in 1956 in Kerala. She finished her elementary education in Thrissur, and pursued her college education in Palakkad. She later began undergoing her religious training. She was also allowed to pursue an M. Phil. and a Ph.D., which she completed on a government merit scholarship. She has worked as a teacher at two Catholic colleges in Thrissur, and has also served as the Vice-Principal and Principal in the two colleges. In 2008, she left the Congregation of Mother of Carmel, after facing several dormant issues within the church frequently. When she revealed the practices followed by the nuns and priests, it caused controversial reactions, with some religious establishments announcing her allegations as groundless and even questioning her sanity. She broke her silence on all these developments through her book, Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun, which has been published in English and Malayalam.