In Philippines, school offers training, but nuns provide sense of family
Sister Rachel Myriam Luxford from New Zealand, a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, visits in 2019 with Senan Duran and Raymart Montinola in Manila, Philippines, both alumni of the Second Chance program. (CNS photo/courtesy Charity Durano)
By Gail DeGeorge and Charity Durano, Catholic News Service
QUEZON CITY, Philippines Jane Ollivier lost her parents by the age of 10. For five years, she bounced among various relatives before she entered the School of Life, a residential program for teenage girls in metropolitan Manila run by the Missionaries of Mary.
Jane Ollivier, pictured at left in 2015, entered the School of Life at age 15 after being orphaned and passed around various relatives. While living at the School of Life, she earned an education degree, taught school and now works as a home life officer for ACAY to help other teen girls. (Courtesy of the Missionaries of Mary)
Quezon City, Philippines Jane Ollivier lost her parents by the age of 10. For five years, she bounced around between various relatives before she entered the School of Life, a residential program for teenage girls in metropolitan Manila run by the Missionaries of Mary. I wasn t treated as a child who needed help, but as a member of a family, she said. I found the care of a family that I was looking for.
From left: Anne Gleeson at age 12 in 1971; Gleeson in 2019; Cáit Finnegan as a high school student in the 1960s; Finnegan today. Both women spoke to Global Sisters Report about their sexual abuse by a woman religious. (Provided photos)
Editor s note: The overwhelming majority of people in religious life who have been accused of sexual abuse have been men. Credible accusations have also been made against women religious, but there has been relatively little coverage of those cases. As an independent, nonprofit source of news and information about Catholic sisters, Global Sisters Report devotes most of its resources to the good work sisters perform around the world. But we re committed to telling the full story of women religious, and that includes stories like this one. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 will publish Feb. 25.