I have to say, that this is not the way the Church I know behaves. However, I’ve heard whispers of it from women I know in the Church ever since I converted. I know women who were treated this way. And I know women who were told things like this — and worse when they were little girls. The Church is in process of becoming the Kingdom, just like all the rest of us. It is the work of millennia.
From National Catholic Reporter:
Of all of the religious instruction classes that my mother took as a girl, one lesson in particular always seemed to stay with her: the day that the nun explained the church’s teaching on divorce.
A girl in the class asked the sister whether it would be okay to leave her husband if he hit her.
“No,” the nun replied. “Even if he beats you, you have to stay with him.”
When she got home from class, my mother told my grandparents about the lesson. Horrified, they vehemently disagreed with the nun and told her she would have to divorce any man who put his hands on her.
My mother has recounted this story many times throughout my life, and what strikes me most about it is that she, in fact, did stay with a man who hit her. He was my stepfather, and I was 4 years old when I witnessed him punch her. I was never the same again.
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