By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, August 7, 2019: The Franciscan Clarist congregation has expelled Sister Lucy Kalapura, one of its members who had questioned the official Church’s indifference to a nun allegedly raped by a Catholic bishop.
The superior general of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar congregation, in a letter to Sister Kalapura dated August 5, says the nun had been given “the required canonical warnings” but failed to show “the needed remorse” or “give satisfactory explanation” for her lifestyle that violated “the proper law” of the congregation.
The 54-year-old nun, a professional school teacher, on August 7 told media person that she was given the order earlier in the day. She also said the superior general did not give her time to read the order and got angry when asked for time to understand its implications.
“I cannot leave the convent immediately. Will try to move legally against the order,” she added.
Sister Kalapura incurred the wrath of her superiors and Church leaders when she joined a group of Missionaries of Jesus in September 2018 to protest the alleged rape of their former superior general by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar.
However, the congregation cited other reasons for expelling Sister Kalapura. She was accused of buying a car without getting required permission from her superiors and violating many other rules of the congregation.
The superior general, Sister Ann Joseph, has given Sister Kalapura ten days to appeal against the dismissal order. “In case you decide to make recourse to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the decree of dismissal will have suspensive effect,” Sister Ann Joseph’s letter says.
In case Sister Kalapura accepts the “decree of dismissal” she has to leave the convent where she currently lives within ten days after “having handed over your religious habit to the superior of your local community.”
The superior general also suggested that Sister Kalapura could write directly to the Oriental Congregation or forward it through the New Delhi-based apostolic nunciature. The superior general offered to transmit Sister Kalapura’s letter to the Vatican congregation through the nunciature.
Sister Kalapura was given a coy of the dismissal order, Vatican congregation’s letter confirming her dismissal, and a copy of the letter from the nunciature, besides the superior general’s letter.