Explaining Sister Charlotte

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I went for coffee with a guy I know and he had asked me to bring a bible. Well, he is one of those people who take the bible literally when we are suppose to take it figuratively and has opinions that are totally in contradictions with church teachings. He likes to discuss these things since in his mind it is a good conversation. I just find it frustrating because I feel like he is trying to talk me out of my faith.

And he will ask questions like ‘How do you explain all the priest who have abused children’ to which I respond ‘The church has always taught it is wrong, these priest committed grave sins. You can not take the actions of one sinner and hold that against a church who has never taught the people in it are perfect’. I find that a satisfying answer and I look for official church teachings. He does not agree. He keeps a friendly tone and insists we are just discussing. Personally, I know I will probably never changed his mind (unless there is divine interference) and don’t enjoy always feeling like I am being contradicted.

Well, he sent me a you tube video about Sister Charlotte. I didn’t listen to the whole thing but it appears to be a nun who left the church and now speaks out about all the abuse she suffered while in the convent. He asked me to help him understand her point. Well… I honestly don’t know what to say

My first reaction is to try to tell him I never want to talk religion with him again. But I have a few friends that are telling me I should help him find the truth. Now I feel guilty.

Anyone know anything about sister Charlotte that I could tell him? Also, any advice on how to handle this situation?

Angie
 
I would mention that a lot of people are skeptical about her story. I caution against saying it isn’t true, though. It might make it appear that you are simply denying that abuse can ever even occur in the Church.

I think you did the right thing by affirming that abuse does indeed occur in the Church.

I usually compare abuse by clergy to teachers especially since my city has encountered issues with teachers in the past…Usually most people understand that the role of a teacher should protect students, yet sometimes we see that does not happen because the teacher has acted against his responsibilities. Usually people can connect that they know plenty of good teachers and clearly the ill actions of some teachers aren’t by any means in the job description.
 
“Do you do this to all your friends, or am I the only one you have left?” This fellow is not discussing. He is badgering you, and he needs to cut it out.

As for this “Sr. Charlotte,” I would ask him why he thinks such a story is true, which is a far better question that why I think it is false.

Is she still alive? Has she named the convent where she was allegedly abused? Or is this someone that couldn’t get a dollar in a civil suit based on the substance of her allegations? You can hear Archbishop Fulton Sheen and see him in color on YouTube, and he died in 1979.

I could only find one Sr. Charlotte, who died in 1983. From the short amount I heard on her YouTube-posted “testimony,” I think that either she is deluded or she is simply telling a hugely ridiculous lie to credulous Southern Protestants who might possibly have believed her because they don’t know any better.

First of all, how many people raised Catholic say “Roman Catholic” over in over again, instead of merely “Catholic”? Her accent and grammar–“and then the time come when” for instance–sounds as if she was raised in the middle of the Bible belt, and maybe even Appalacia. She talks about “at seven years of age, I went to confessional”. Went to confessional? Who says that? Catholics make a confession or go to confession, but nobody “makes a confessional,” except the carpenter who builds it from wood. She doesn’t correctly use the terms that a normal Catholic would use as a matter of course, let alone a cloistered nun, but instead misuses words that are similar. One thing you know about the universal Church–we have very uniform terminology, even now and particularly before Vatican II. She has it all mixed up.

Who ever enters a convent before they’re 13? St Thérèse of Lisieux had to petition the Vatican in order to enter the convent at the age of 15, and it was a convent near her home that had already accepted her older sisters! This woman throwing the allegations around talks as if little girls are allowed to make their profession when they are 12 or 14 all of the time. That is utter nonsense. There are boarding schools, yes, but the girls are in school and it is assumed that the vast majority will leave and go back to their families and probably get married. Convent boarding schools are not “minor seminaries” for girls! They go home for the holidays. Children who lived with the sisters year around were either orphans or else came from families so poor that they couldn’t keep them. They were not a money-making proposition. Then she says, “Now oftentimes we say the priest selects his material from the confessional box.” Huh?

I didn’t even listen any farther. This fellow has been taken in, if this is what he’s listening to. It is no wonder that it is not better known, even though it has been flying around for 30 years. It is not only a lie, but it is a very sloppy lie, too. Bring your catechism with you next time, not your Bible, and ask him if anyone has ever taught him about “rash judgment,” which is an offense against the 8th commandment. If not, perhaps he needs to learn the faith as it was handed down from the Apostles, instead of presuming to teach himself.
 
Just remember that how you treat him is far more important than your actual facts. Treat him with respect. If you can’t take the religious arguments, change the subject, tell him you’re more interested in being a charitable Christian than in proving him wrong.
 
Two different articles pointing out the inconsistencies in “Sister” Charlotte’s claims and giving evidence that she was a fraud:

web.archive.org/web/20040109041001/http://www.angelfire.com/ms/seanie/forgeries/charlottewells.html

nairaland.com/593934/refutation-testimony-charlotte-wells-charlotte

The thing with that kind of person though is that many of them will ignore anything that doesn’t fit with the narrative they have in their head and if he is looking for claims against the Cahtolic church, he will not be very willing to believe anything contrary to them, especially from a Catholic.
 
My suggestions:
  1. Dont bring a bible just because it is what “he” wants; he is setting a trap for you and baiting you.
  2. Is this guy really a friend, if he continues to push his agenda on you?
I have friends of all denominations and faiths— we meet for coffe and talk and laugh and have fun together. They dont ask me to bring bibles and have a “religious smackdown” as a form of friendship!

Find some other, true friends!
 
Sister Charlotte like Maria Monk are frauds the whole woman’s past is very shady she is obviously making it up come on what southern girl do you know of in the early 1900s would go to a carmelite monastery in europe? She has a distinctive southern twang and considering how small the southern catholic population was at that time I find her unlikely, she also charges that there are lime pits in convents where illegitimate children of priests and nuns are disposed of not true she also used odd terminology for things and she claims to have become a nun at like 14 she has been debunked numerous times just explain this to your friend and let him know that

Also why not just leave religion out of your disscussions
 
anonymous_in_fl said:
My suggestions:
  1. Dont bring a bible just because it is what “he” wants; he is setting a trap for you and baiting you.
  2. Is this guy really a friend, if he continues to push his agenda on you?
I have friends of all denominations and faiths— we meet for coffe and talk and laugh and have fun together. They dont ask me to bring bibles and have a “religious smackdown” as a form of friendship!

Find some other, true friends!
Click to expand...
This.

When I was in college, this kind of discussion was a regular thing between certain friends and I, and it was absolutely ok because there was never a question that we respected one another and it was understood that there were boundaries. But, I personally have a mind for debate. I love it. Not everybody does, and your friend needs to respect that. We aren’t all called to witness to our Faith in the manner he is insisting upon you. And, as a friend, I would expect him to respect you in this regard.
 
EasterJoy said it all for me.

There is a lot of Catholic bashing at the moment.

Maybe there is a political aspect to it.
There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.

If the Catholic voice spoke as one they could change government’s,particularly in the US.

Just a thought.

Michael.
 
ask him if he is concerned for his soul, or just interested in finding perfect people to worship with. we are a body of sinners, and the only way to heaven is through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and the church he established. when i realized these things, and studied how Jesus treated Judas, it became clear to me that life on this earth is never going to be perfect, and it’s up to us to do everything we can to represent Christ to others and not focus on others faults. (as heinous as they may be) ‘remove the log from your eye before trying to remove the speck from your brothers’.
 
anonymous_in_fl said:
My suggestions:
  1. Dont bring a bible just because it is what “he” wants; he is setting a trap for you and baiting you.
  2. Is this guy really a friend, if he continues to push his agenda on you?
I have friends of all denominations and faiths— we meet for coffe and talk and laugh and have fun together. They dont ask me to bring bibles and have a “religious smackdown” as a form of friendship!

Find some other, true friends!
Click to expand...
Thank you everybody for your replies and thank you EJ for shedding light on the reality of Sister Charlotte.

I think the above quote is what I want to do, I just need to get the courage to do it
 
Stillsosola said:
Sister Charlotte like Maria Monk are frauds the whole woman’s past is very shady she is obviously making it up come on what southern girl do you know of in the early 1900s would go to a carmelite monastery in europe? She has a distinctive southern twang and considering how small the southern catholic population was at that time I find her unlikely, she also charges that there are lime pits in convents where illegitimate children of priests and nuns are disposed of not true she also used odd terminology for things and she claims to have become a nun at like 14 she has been debunked numerous times just explain this to your friend and let him know that

Also why not just leave religion out of your disscussions
Click to expand...
Her allegations show a gross ignorance of the institutional Church, that is the issue. It is not that there were no evil people violating the trust of the faithful. It is that she obviously does not have knowledge of where the opportunities did and did not exist for the evil ones to do it.
 
NiceEnough said:
EasterJoy said it all for me.

There is a lot of Catholic bashing at the moment.

Maybe there is a political aspect to it.
There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world.

If the Catholic voice spoke as one they could change government’s,particularly in the US.

Just a thought.

Michael.
Click to expand...
I wish I could say it was otherwise, but the problem with her story is not that the evil has never found opportunities to violate the trust of the faithful from within the institutional Church. The problem with her story is that she hasn’t a clue what opportunities were there and which ones were not. The OP ought to use this to point out to her friend that it is a sin to be too quick to believe the worst of others.
 
Well… here is the update.

I sent him an email telling him that I was willing to continue to be friends with the understanding that we no longer talk religion. I also said that I couldn’t help but think he was just out to prove me wrong and was looking for anything bad he could find about the church. I told him if he was interested in learning about the good to google people like sister Faustina and St Monica and I mentioned other saints. But to not tell me about it.

Well, he replied saying he would respect the boundary but that he was hurt that I labeled him a Catholic basher because he said he was just discussing and needed to talk to people of every religion before making a decision.

I emailed back saying I was glad we could be friends and left it at that.

I don’t know if he is a truly is a hurt puppy just looking for the truth or just a really good manipulator. But I do know I am not up to convincing him that the Catholic church is the one true way. I think the best I can do is pray for him.

Angie
 
Also, she claimed to be a Carmelite. But she says there were 180 nuns in her own wing, when Carmelite nuns in one place almost in all cases number no more than twenty. She claims to have had work outside the convent; but Carmelites are a cloistered order. Rather fishy, no? And interesting she doesn’t specify what the convent was named or where it was.
 
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