Catholic women demand impartial probe into novice’s death

By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, June 1, 2020: A group of Catholic women in India on June 1 urged the head of the Syro-Malankara Church to start an impartial enquiry into the mysterious death of a novice nun in a convent in Kerala, southern India.

“In these times of growing mistrust, it becomes extremely important that the Church authorities seize the moment and initiate an impartial enquiry which will bring out the true facts in a transparent and ethical manner,” says the letter the Sisters in Solidarity wrote to Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis.

Such an enquiry has become “more urgent” since the head of the Crime Branch of the Kerala police on May 21 rejected his department’s report that ruled out foul play in the death of Divya P John, the novice nun.

The body of 21-year-old John was found on May 7 in the well of the Baselian Convent of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church at Paliyekkara near Thiruvalla in the Pathanamthitta district, some 120 km north of the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram.

The SiS member say they write to the cardinal since they are “in solidarity with the suffering of women who experience different forms of violence and abuse in the Church, who are at times abetted to suicide or even murdered in certain circumstances.”

The group also voices its deep concern about the increasing number of “unnatural deaths taking place in convents.” In the past 30 plus years, 20 such deaths have been recorded “which is an alarming statistics indeed,” the letter points out.

The group also explains women join convent because of their desire to serve society and cut their relations from their natal family to dedicate fully to serve the Church and its mission. “Consequently the religious congregation/Church becomes their family. It therefore becomes an onerous duty of the Church authorities to ensure the safety and emotional wellbeing of these women under their care,” the Catholic women’s group asserts.

According to them, John’s death “has brought to surface the irresponsible way the Church leadership handle such situations.”

They point out that John had spent five years as a trainee in the convent after joining it “at a very vulnerable age” of 16.

“It is very perplexing as to what could have gone wrong as she was in the novitiate, a stage in religious formation that is meant to be closely accompanied and personal growth monitored by the nuns in charge,” the letter explains.

The group, comprising religious and lay women, also expresses its confusion over the total silence” of the members of the congregation on John’s death.

“The male hierarchy has intervened immediately to cover up the issue. That raises the question as to whether the nuns are not empowered even to manage their own affairs,” the letter says.

The group also finds as “deeply disturbing” the way the leaders of the congregation and Church authorities acted on discovering John’s body. “The entire reporting of Divya’s death seems to have been done in a manner intending to hide the real facts,” the Catholic women allege.

The group wonders why John’s body was taken to a Church hospital when there was a government hospital near the convent.

“The rather quick dismissal of the death as a “normal” death without following the essential procedures has led to the belief that there is something deeper behind the unnatural death of (John),” the letter says.

It says the Church authorities should not brush under “the carpet of spiritualization and secrecy” the “many valid questions” raised by concerned member of the Church and civil society.

“Addressing these questions openly will only add to the credibility of ecclesiastical life when such unfortunate incidents occur within the Church,” says letter signed by 15 women leaders representing various organizations and two women groups.

The group has also sent copies of the letter to Cardinal George Alencherry, president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, and its secretary general Bishop Joseph Mar Thomas of Bathery and Father Sebastian Thundathilkunnel, president of the Kerala Conference of Major Superiors and eight others.

“Keeping aside the various speculations which are swirling around, one needs to flag the fact of Divya’s emotional distress and investigate its cause. The question then arises as to why the authorities were unable to address this effectively as her only source of support was the Church family,” the group points out.

The Church authorities, the Catholic women point out, are being increasingly seen as agents intending to cover the faults of their members rather than supporting the victim. “It reveals an absence of mechanisms which foster trust in the victims of any kind of abuse,” the letter says.

The group ends the letter with a plea to Church authorities to introduce mechanisms “to make it comfortable for a complainant to raise her issues in a way she can be free from fear or coercion.”