Linda S Mahlmeister

Sins of our Sisters Linda S Mahlmeister

"This is physical, not sexual!"That's what the respected Sister Rita Celine, a Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati nun, taught 15-year-old Linda Mahlmeister in 1959, holding Linda's hand under her habit at Mass, offering lingering kisses, caressing and pressing against her in bed. When young Linda, an aspiring postulant, resisted Sister Rita Celine's advances, she was punished. Later, when Linda repeatedly asked for an acknowledgement and apology from the Order, she was pointedly rebuffed and, in some cases, shunned. The media has focused on Roman Catholic priests sexually abusing males. Linda tells her story to reveal the dark, sordid secrets of abuse and cover-up within the insular world of Religious Women. "By then I knew the drill. First we sat, then lay down, then I was told to be on top, then pressing was okay."