There is a new book out about the scandalous convent in Rome, where horrific things take place such as rape and murder...

Here is an article reviewing the book, if anyone is interested:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-false-saint-and-sexual-predator-in-a-warped-rome-convent/2015/03/05/072069da-b14d-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html?hpid=z3]Book on convent scandal[/url]

Otto, That link doesn't seem to work. Can you try again? I don't know anything about this convent.

LaurenRose,

Sorry, I was having trouble...hope this works...

Book Review "The Nuns of Sant' Ambrogio"

[www.washingtonpost.com]

Thanks Otto. That's a pretty disturbing story. Would that we considered a cult of the Catholic church? A cult within Catholicism? I guess this gets back to the question of what exactly is a cult.

That's a really good question LarenRose. Now I know that this site provides definitions of a cult on their FAQ page, but they seem to be more or less very broad definitions, and some may say that some of them are arguable. However, at times when there is obvious exploitation such as monetary or sexual, then there would be no doubt that it is a "cult" in the most negative sense of the word. Such is the case with this convent....yeah pretty disturbing.

Otto Wagner:

The Roman Catholic Church does not fit the definition of a destructive cult.

A very small percentage of religious groups fit this definition.

The definition provided by Robert Jay Lifton forms the nucleus for almost every working definition of a destructive cult and is not broad and is quite precise.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Lifton offers three highly specific and focused criterion.

Cults can be identified by three characteristics:

a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power;

a process I call coercive persuasion or thought reform;

economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Lifton further very specifically defines what a thought reform program consists of based upon eight further criterion so that this issue is also understood in detail.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Psychologist Margaret Singer offers a chart in her book "Cults In OUr Midst" that draws distinctions between various forms of persuasion including education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination and thought reform.

See [www.culteducation.com]

For example, the Roman Catholic engages in indoctrination not thought reform.

I devoted an entire chapter within my book "Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out" to "Defining a Destructive Cult" demonstrating how virtually every working definition of a destructive cult intersects Lifton's three principle defining characteristics.

See [www.amazon.com]

That chapter and all the chapters in the book are very carefully footnoted so that readers can see the supporting research.