By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, October 16, 2019: The Vatican Congregation for the Oriental Churches has rejected Sister Lucy Kalappura’s appeal against her dismissal from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.
This was disclosed in a letter India’s Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro sent to Sister Ann Joseph, superior general of the 130-year-old indigenous congregation based in Kerala, southern India.
The October 11 letter, which was made available to the press on October 16, says Sister Kalappura can “present a new recourse to the Supreme Tribunal of the Segnatura Apostica” within a prescribed time if she was not satisfied with the rejection of her appeal.
Sister Kalappura plans to stay on in the convent at Karakkamala, a village in the Wayanad district, Riju Kanjookaren of the Save Our Sisters Movement told Matters India.
The 54-year-old nun told reporters that she would remain in the congregation until her death. She also alleged that the Vatican congregation was not willing to listen to her.
A note from the congregation’s public relation officer said their headquarters in Aluva received the nuncio’s letter on October 14. Their Mananthavady provincial then went to their Karakkamala convent to hand over the letter to Sister Kalappura.
The congregation rejected the allegation in certain sections of the press that Sister Kalappura was dismissed for participating in a sit-in demonstration in September 2018 against a bishop who had alleged raped a nun.
The press note says the Mananthavady provincial had issued the first warning to Kalappura on March 13, 2018, and the second on May 19 the same year.
It also cited the Vatican congregation reasons for rejecting Sister Kalappura’s appeal. According to the Vatican body, Sister Kalappura has led a lifestyle totally alien to religious and that she was warned twice to amend her ways and fulfill her obligations as a woman religious. However, Sister Kalappura “obstinately has taken exception from all exhortations or pleas together with the precepts of the congregation.”
The appeal rejection came amid a protest on October 12 organized by “Justice for Sr Lucy,” a collective formed in support of Sister Kalappura at Vanchi Square in Ernakulam.
Sister Kalappura told press persons at the Vanchi Square that the Church does not always stand on the side of Justice. “The Church, which should righteously support the victim, instead, encourages and stands with Father Noble Thomas, who tried to defame me and the nuns’ community as a whole. What action has the Church taken against Father Noble, who has openly insulted me and our community?” she asked.
Sister Kalappura’s her dismissal order, dated Aug. 5, said her congregation’s general council on May 11 “unanimously voted to dismiss her.” The congregation had also obtained the assent of the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches for the council’s decision.
The congregation dismissed Sister Kalappura for violating the vows of poverty and obedience. It gave her 10 days to appeal to the Vatican against the order.
Sister Kalappura says she was being punished for using media outlets to obtain justice for a nun who accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of repeatedly raping her from 2014 to 2016 at her convent in Kuravilangad. The Jalandhar bishop’s trial date has not yet been set.
Sister Kalappura was a lesser known nun in India until she joined the September 2018 sit-in at Vanchi Square, a protest venue near the Kerala High Court.
She became a media sensation especially in Kerala when she questioned the church leaders’ neglect of the survivor of alleged clergy abuse. Kalappura’s superiors and other Catholic leaders reacted by accusing her of working with enemies of the church.