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Catholic Sisters’ Network in Kenya Raises Concern Over Rise in Online Harassment Targeting Religious

Credit: Communication Network for Catholic Sisters-CNCS KENYA
Nicholas Waigwa

By Nicholas Waigwa

Nairobi, 26 November, 2025 / 8:02 pm (ACI Africa).

The Communication Network for Catholic Sisters (CNCS) in Kenya has raised concern over the growing trend of women Religious becoming targets of gender-based violence (GBV) on digital media platforms.

In a Wednesday, November 26 statement marking the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the network notes that Catholic Sisters are particularly vulnerable to attacks due to their “visibility, pastoral engagements, and their identity as women.”

“Violence against women now extends powerfully into digital spaces,” CNCS says in the statement shared on its Facebook page, highlighting online harassment, deepfake manipulation, identity theft, surveillance, and explicit threats as some of the forms of digital abuse targeting the Consecrated women.

The Kenya-based network, which provides a platform for women Religious in the country to share their experiences and accomplishments with the rest of the world, warns that such attacks “not only harm the sisters but also seek to silence their prophetic voices and undermine their ministries.”

CNCS emphasizes that the 16 Days of Activism, which began on November 25, present a critical moment to reflect on the emerging threats facing the women Religious in the wake of the contemporary media tools.

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“No excuse for online abuse,” the network emphasizes in its campaign hashtag for the GBV awareness initiative set to conclude on December 10, adding that the activism serves as a call for everyone “to challenge digital violence in all its forms.”

It further invites the People of God to use the campaign period as an opportunity to renew their commitment to building “a world where every woman, whether consecrated or lay, can participate safely in public life” without fear of intimidation or digital attacks.

Meanwhile, in an interview with ACI Africa on the sidelines of the ongoing meeting for communication coordinators and directors of Catholic-owned television and radio stations in Africa, a Consulter of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication (DFC), echoed the concerns raised by CNS regarding gender-based violence against women Religious.

“It is a concern. We face it,” Sr. Adelaide Felicitas Ndilu said during the November 26 interview at the Mariapolis Piero Centre in Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN), noting that the tendency is for women to be abused online and called all sorts of names.

The attacks “continue to happen, even to religious women,” the Kenyan-born member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) said, recalling her personal experience as a student at a local institution of higher learning.

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“I also faced the same. My classmates couldn’t understand me. And because we had a social media messaging page, you could see some of them very indirectly talking about me and calling me names,” she recalled.

“The society seems to have given us, as religious women, a certain place, and whenever we try to lift our heads above the space it has confined us to, we are pushed back into it,” the IHM member said.

She also weighed in on the issues of deepfake manipulation and identity theft, where individuals impersonate the consecrated women or use the imagery and symbols of religious life to attract followers on digital platforms.

“We have people who use the identity of sisters to communicate on social media or even to get likes and followers, which is, in a way, very dangerous,” Sr. Adelaide said.

She added, “They may appear to start well, but from the beginning, their actions are misleading. They present themselves as part of a sisterhood to attract followers, often with the aim of gaining money or influence. Once they have a following, they reveal their true selves—their real intentions and who they truly are.”

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For her, Consecrated women should be encouraged to use the new digital media tools to evangelize, particularly to the young people who spend most of their time on social media platforms.

“That’s where we evangelize the youth, and we have to meet the youth where they are—and the youth are on social media, whether we like it or not,” Sr. Adelaide said, noting that she would personally not afford to fold her “hands in the chapel, praying, while the young people there are getting lost.”

She added, “In the morning, they wake up, and they are there. How do I reach them there? I have to get into social media and meet them there and evangelize them, send those messages, tell them about God, and tell them about moral issues in a way that is appealing to them—not showing them that they are sinners; no, in a way that they can accept, and they can accept the idea.”

“I encourage sisters to be on social media. Jesus never gave up. If Jesus gave up because of the opposition he faced, we would not be having Christianity today. So don’t give up; continue and face the challenges that are there,” Sr. Adelaide said during the November 26 interview with ACI Africa.

Nicholas Waigwa

Nicholas Waigwa is a Kenyan multimedia journalist and broadcast technician with a professional background in creating engaging news stories and broadcasting content across multiple media platforms. He is passionate about the media apostolate and Catholic Church communication.