Sr. Anastasia: How Market?

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

The beans have been peeled, the veil unveiled and the dirty undies washed in the public and the water splashed. Of course it stinked, provoking shock and bewilderment, like expected, many have adjusted, moved on, facing what is facing them, figuring how to get around the bitting economic situation in the country.

Sr. Anastasia Kinse Shako how market? You came on social media space and spilled the beans. The space was set on fire, your story was passionate, it resonated with many. The Church condemned, Bishops and Priests castigated, shamed and embarrassed. You played the victim which of course you are and attention profoundly turned on you. Like sliced onions in a hot oil, you are sizzling and within a twinkle it would go down. It rained and poured, it thundered and with lightening, all that would simmer and the reality of the anonymous nature of the social media gradually dawning on you. If you would be sincere to yourself Sr..Anastasia, your soul may be drooping alreadyand the realityof your action and its consequences crystal clear.. In hindsight, you would have toed a different path. The die is cast, the horse already off the stable? bolting the door, means nothing.

As a Rev. Sr..with a decade of experience, your knowledge of church history would be deep enough to quide your actions. May be you chose the easiest route to get attention. From your experience, you were abused by many priests. The question is were you hypnotised? Lured? Raped? Did you indulge and yield to such manipulations and later decided to put a stop to it when you couldn’t take it anymore?

The truth is you are not the only person that had been tempted, lured, forced and manipulated.

Maria Goretti: A well-known Italian saint, was a young girl who was stabbed to death in 1902 at the age of 11 while defending herself from a sexual assault by an older neighbor. On her deathbed, she forgave her attacker, who later repented and converted.

St. Agnes of Rome: was a young Roman noblewoman in the 4th century, St. Agnes chose to consecrate her virginity to Christ. She rejected several high-ranking suitors who subsequently denounced her as a Christian. She was tortured, exposed in a brothel, and ultimately beheaded for her unwavering fidelity.

St. Agatha of Sicily: A third-century virgin martyr, rejected the advances of a Roman prefect and was tortured for her faith. During her torment, she had her breasts cut off before ultimately dying in prison. She is venerated as the patron saint of rape victims and those with breast diseases.

St. Philomena: A Greek princess martyred in the 3rd century, she rejected the marriage proposal of Emperor Diocletian. She was subjected to various forms of torture, including scourging, drowning, and being shot with arrows, all of which she miraculously survived before being beheaded.

St. Thecla of Iconium: An early female follower of St. Paul, St. Thecla refused to marry after hearing his preaching and chose a life of perpetual virginity. According to legend, she survived several attempts on her life, including being burned and attacked by beasts, and is known as the “protomartyr among women”.

St. Lucy of Syracuse: A noblewoman who dedicated herself to Christ, St. Lucy was denounced by a rejected suitor during the Diocletianic Persecution. She endured numerous failed execution attempts, including being set on fire, before finally being put to death by the sword.

St. Cecilia: A Roman noblewoman who, on her wedding night, convinced her new pagan husband not to touch her. She later converted him to Christianity, but both were martyred for their faith. St. Cecilia was condemned to die in her own home but survived the suffocation attempt before being beheaded.

Sr Anastasia Kinse Shako. I took this time to chronicle some of these young Catholics who stood firmly without falling to traps of the fowlers for them. You possibly would have been killed for resisting them. You said no to them no matter the material benefits lost. Very commendable! Thank God you were not killed.

May be today we would be talking about Saint Rev. Sister Anastasia Kinse Shako who was martyred because she refused the numerous sexual advances of priests. But you were not killed, you didn’t fall, you yielded not, but when it became overwhelming, you decided to cry out for your mental health. When the authorities didn’t give you listening ears you ran to the anonymous social media space thinking to get help. How Market?

What is the way forward? Stop seeking justice on the social media. You won’t get it. The Church does not work that way. You have exposed yourself further, your popularity on the space of social media would be counterproductive and the adverse consequences of it beyond what you bargained or set out to achieve.

A lot of wolves are watching, I pray you don’t get devoured more than you had already been . Job gone! Vocation gone! Your account details our there for support and many already seeking your hands in marriage and worse still the narrative that you are now a Muslim.

May God help you find the calmness and decerning mind not to be deceived and hooked by the bait of the devil. No matter how far you have strayed and wondered in the wilderness of depression, hopelessness, dejection, shock and disappointment, going forward wouldn’t give you the healing balm needed.

Stop wherever you are now. Turn and retrace your steps, the arms of the church are wide like the father of the prodigal son. Just come back, say nothing, your healing, both mentally, emotionally etc is assured and your reinstatement very much certain. We all have right including the church. Where our right stops is the beginning of other’s right.

Social media is a terrible place to go for counselling. Junks and rubbish one gets instead! Communication isn’t the problem. How to communicate and which platform to use determine how productive or otherwise it would be. I guess her choice of communication platform demeaned the wonderful message she has.

Share this until it gets to the estranged Rev. Sr. Anastasia Kinse Shako. I sense deep manipulation and bewitchment here.

The money she may get from social media in- laws may be very inadequate to cover the gaps of peace created by her not doing what you were called to do and be, a Rev. Sr, if actually she was called in the first place.

Jarlathuche@gmail.com