VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Dozens of women who attended a high school run by the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order have urged the Vatican to close the program, saying the psychological abuse they endured trying to live like teenage nuns led to multiple cases of anorexia, stress-induced migraines, depression and even suicidal thoughts.
The women sent a letter this weekend to the pope's envoy running the Legion to denounce the manipulation, deception and disrespect they say they suffered at the hands of counselors barely older than themselves at the all-girl Immaculate Conception Academy, in South Kingstown. For some, the trauma required years of psychological therapy.
Because of dwindling enrollment -- 14 seniors graduated last month -- the school recently merged with a Legion-run school in Michigan.