By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, June 8, 2022: A Catholic nun has come to public with allegations of torture and mental harassment from her congregation.
Sister Elcina, nee K V Sudha, a member the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, an Italian congregation, made the revelation to media on June 7 in front her provincial house in Mysore, a city in southern Indian state of Karnataka.
She alleged that her superiors had forcibly admitted to a mental hospital after her complaints to the state government about certain irregularities in her congregation.
The congregation has refused to answer phone calls and email queries from Matters India on this matter.
However, the congregation issued a statement in the website of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council denying the allegations as “baseless.” The statement from Sister Margaret, the provincial, has appealed to the media not to report Sister Elcina’s allegations as they tarnish more her image than the congregation’s.
Sister Elcina, a native of Kerala, said she joined the congregation 25 years ago and realized some three months ago that not everything was going well in it.
She claimed stumbling on certain serious irregularities and approached the state women commission seeking action. She did not divulge the details of the alleged irregularities.
She further alleged that after complaint to the commission, other members in her convent started harassing her and started pressing her to withdraw the complaint, but she refused.
On May 31, she said, while she praying in the chapel, she was asked to reach the convent’s visiting room as she had some guests.
When she reached there, she found three burly men and two nuns. She entered the room one man pressed her down and tied her legs and hands and pulled her out of the room and dumped her into a car parked outside, the nun alleged.
They also allegedly injected some sedatives, removed her religious dress and seized her cellphone.
She said she had cried for help from the provincial, but nobody came forward as it was a preplanned operation.
“I was later admitted to a mental hospital,” she said.
She had earlier narrated her troubles to her nephew who is in Karnataka. When her mobile failed to answer his call, the nephew reached the convent and asked for her.
The convent authorities told him that she was admitted in a hospital. Later on, he informed the nun’s father who along with police rescued her from the mental hospital.
Sister Elcina said she then sought treatment in another hospital to regain her health. She now wants justice from the congregation.
She reached the convent on July 7 demanding her mobile and the religious dress, but she was not allowed to enter the convent premises that was already guarded by police personnel.
Police officials asked to move the court in case she wanted her mobile and habit and also in case she wanted to return to the congregation.
The provincial’s statement in Malayalam alleges that the nun was acting at the behest of someone else.
She said Sister Elcina had pronounced her first vows in 2002 and the final six years later. After a bachelor course she served the congregation’s several convents. For the past few years, she has been serving as teacher in a special managed by the Indian Missionary Congregation at a town in Karnataka.
The provincial further said the nun became friendly to a man from Kerala who had taken in contract a fish pond of the IMS fathers. When the new IMS superior refused to renew the contract, the man allegedly turned against the priests. Earlier, Sister Elcina had brought her nephew from Kerala to work with the man.
According the provincial, the congregation noticed marked changes in Sister Elcina’s behavior since January this year. A team from the provincial house went to her convent to sort out the matter. “Sister Elcina became emotionally tense and violent. She abused her companions and threatened to die by suicide and put the blame on them,” the provincial narrated.
Sister Margaret said Sister Elcina was admitted in the hospital at the initiative of her elder sister, a nun.
The provincial further noted that the nun had gone for home visit in March for ten days, but did not visit her parents. She alleged that their probe revealed that Sister Elcina had spent the days with the man.
O well, Satyan, SILENCE they say is GOLDEN, its shine showing on the pectoral crosses and other congregational medallions earned/worn!
Mr ML Satyan has hit the nail on the head. What CRI does best is CRY!
According to my perception “the religious vocation ” is itself misunderstood by most of the Catholics in India. Religious vocation is unreasonably exaggerated by the “Church” structures. Women religious in general are a cheap labour force in several Church Structures. That has to go. True Biblical theology has to set new foundations. In fact in the Bible, no mention is made of our type of religious life except that it is “intensification of Christian life “.
It’s is very courageous of Sister Elcina, nee K V Sudha, to speak out against torture and harassment. It’s shocking she has been facing such ill treatment despite being in the congregation for 25 years. Lay Associations should come forward to support her and look into the matter. It’s very surprising they are keeping QUIET! How long will they keep being Sleeping Giants?
If this nun’s elder sister got her admitted in a mental hospital then why did her father come and get her out? Unanswered questions. Please also read my comments on the previous story of the abduction of a priest in the same area. Are these events inter-linked?
Followed by the harassment of the victim sisters (in the rape case of Franco) by their congregation, here is another concrete example. Probably, in every women’s congregation “harassment” may be happening. The more you dig, more skeletons will come out. But no one dares to come out in public. Mainly due to their own security and to keep up their family status. What is the CRI’s role? Why does CBCI/CCBI seem to be “silent spectators”?