By Matters India Reporter
Karackamala: A Catholic nun on September 23 alleged that a parish in Kerala has debarred her from parish activities for attending a public protest for justice.
“I returned from Kochi today morning. When I came, the mother superior said that I have been asked not to perform my official and religious duties. The mother said that the [parish priest] told her to inform me,” Sister Lucy Kalappurackal told media persons.
The member of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation taught catechism and distributed communion in St Mary’s Church, Karackamala, a parish of the Mananthavady Syro-Malabar diocese.
She was among thousands of supporters of a historic a sit-in by five Missionaries of Jesus nuns at Kochi, some 275 km south of Mananthavady. They demanded the arrest of a bishop who had allegedly raped one of their companions.
The “Save Our Souls,” a newly formed movement that spearheaded the 14-day protest, called it off on September 22, a day after police arrested Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar.
Sister Kalappurackal said that she was “very upset” that the diocese had remained silent when a nun was “brutally abused by a powerful bishop.” However, they were “quick to act” against her for going to the protest site and taking part in television debates. She said she would have been happy if they had informed her “the actual reason” for relieving her of her parish duties.
The Mananthavady diocese has dismissed as fake and baseless the allegation that it has taken disciplinary action against the nun. Sister Kalappurackal belongs to a pontifical congregation that does not have to depend on a diocesan system to discipline a member, said a press statement from Father Jose Kocharackal, the public relations officer.
The priest said the parishioners of Karackamala had informed their pastor through phone and parish committees their displeasure over the nun teaching their children catechism. They were upset that she had used social media and other platforms to denounce Catholic faith that damaged the parish community, the diocesan official said.
“To teach catechism and distribute communion in the church are not part of religious life. Such matters are under the discretion of the parish priest,” Father Kocharackal asserted.
What the parish priest has decided on Sister Kalappurackal along with the parish council and catechism teacher respects the parish community’s sentiments and is legal under the Church laws, he added.
“The diocese has not taken any action against Sister Lucy as reported by television channels,” he added.
Meanwhile a Jacobite priest said he had received a “warning” letter from his Church headquarters in Damascus in Syria for supporting the nuns’ protest.
According to the letter, Yuhanon Ramban’s involvement and public speeches supporting the Catholic nuns were seemingly more than the envisaged living style of Church priests. The letter also said he had campaigned for the implementation of Church Act that allows a government appointed body to manage Church properties.
The letter said the priest’s activities had caused ‘disgrace’ to the status of monasticism and warned that disciplinary measures would be taken if he continued with such deeds.
The priest alleged that some local bishops had conspired against him and sent wrong information to the church higher-ups in Syria and based on which they had issued the warning letter.
He has written a letter to the Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, explaining his stand.