About the group

We want every woman to be free, aware of her rights and willing to fight for them. We try to show this truth to women who lived in a religious congregation. We want to restore their sense of agency and show a way to regain the inner sense of dignity to those who have gone through difficult experiences.

The center supports women who are currently in religious congregations and are experiencing violence there as well as those who have left such communities. The group consists of very diverse persons from all over Poland, including a legal counsel, two psychologists, and a coach. It also includes people with experience of monastic life.

Nuns are a large and, at the same time, unnoticed group of women. Those of them who experience violence and abuse and decide to leave the order are particularly vulnerable to exclusion. Most often, they do not know who to turn to for help and do not have a place to go to “recover” after leaving the order. The Center is currently the only place in Poland providing this type of assistance.

About the action

Our help is addressed mainly to women who decide to leave communities where they have experienced violence. Their situation very often resembles the situation of women leaving violent relationships. However, we also want to help the women who experience abuse and remain inside the monastic structures.

The center helps women in the process of leaving the religious community: it explains the procedures, helps prepare the appropriate documentation, conducts telephone consultations. It creates a network of safe places throughout Poland, provides support in finding work and housing, builds a space of mutual support for women with experience of living in a convent. In response to the needs of this group, the CFATN created a safe space in Krakow – an intervention apartment where women can stay after leaving religious communities. It also conducts activities, raising awareness of the phenomenon of violence in religious orders and of the necessary changes, and makes attempts to talk to the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church about the difficult situation of nuns.

Grant amount: PLN 60,000

Photo: Emilia Oksentowicz