Kochi(Kerala): The Kerala Christian Reformation Movement (KCRM) staged a dharna in front of the bishop’s house near High Court Junction here on Sunday, demanding that the church to allow nuns to hear ‘confessions’, a holy sacrament, of women.
According to Indulekha Joseph of KCRM, it’s high time the church acknowledged gender equality in rituals. She also said that a woman passing on information about her sins to a male priest also increases the chance of getting abused.
“There are many incidents that I personally know where the priest asked for more details in cases of sexual ‘sins’. Church authorities have told me that many women confess in a bid to ‘entice’ the priest. If such issues exist, then how can women differentiate between good priests and the rest,” she said.
“Nuns should be allowed to do sacraments such as the eucharist and the confession. Jesus had given the right to forgive sins to his disciples, just because all his disciples ended up being men because of the societal norms back then, doesn’t mean that traditions cannot be amended with times,” said Indulekha.
The gathering saw a reading from the Bible referring to the misdeed by the clergy at the time of Christ.
“Priests have always managed to make money out of their profession though they are not allowed to take home their earnings. Nuns, however, are hardly in such a position as they are mostly away from positions of power,” said the activist.
She added that when they approached the church authorities with the request, they were sent away without even promises of a discussion about the same.
Former spokesperson of Syro-Malabar church Fr Paul Thelakkat, however, said that the demand was contradictory to the sacraments itself.
“Faculty of confession is given only to ordained priests. This gets scrutinized every year and the power is renewed. The demand doesn’t make any sense since nuns are not ordained priests,” said Fr Thelakkat.
source: Times of India