By Matters India Reporter
Mumbai: The Indian Women Theologians Forum (IWTF) has expressed solidarity with a nun who dared to complain against a bishop who allegedly had abused sexually for over a period of two years.
“We are pained that her appeals for justice in the Church were met with silence,” the forum said in a press release on October 1. It justified the nun’s move to complain to the police, saying she was “left with no option but to go to the civil authorities to seek justice.”
The forum said it was “appalled” at the way many within the Church heaped condemnation and contempt on her.
“Church leadership has failed to understand the impact sexual abuse has on a victim – the trauma that a victim had to undergo to process the abuse from someone who is a spiritual leader who takes the place of God in her life,” explains the press release signed by forum secretary Virginia Saldanha and members Kochurani Abraham and Sister Manju Kulapuram.
The women theologians say they stand by the nun because the two years of sexual abuse have affected her mentally and spiritually.
“We pledge to accompany her through the ups and downs in her pursuit for justice and appeal to our Catholic brothers and sisters to extend their solidarity to her and refrain from any untoward judgement or condemnation,” the press note said.
The theologians urged the Church to develop mechanisms to help uphold justice from the perspective of Jesus. “The Church must get back to its original Gospel values. The hierarchical structures must give way to a more humane attitude and be quick and pro-active in addressing an issue whatever the level or position of the person in collaboration with women,” they asserted.
They want women religious congregations respected for their contribution to the Church’s mission. “Their consecration is not just to perpetuate servitude. They too are persons created in the image and likeness of the creator God and they too have a specific mission to fulfil which the hierarchical Church should recognize and respect,” the theologians asserted.
They asserted the need for “a radical change” in the training of seminarians and the religious. The formation of priests should be based on Gospel teaching and the person of Jesus Christ, they added.