By Tessy Jacob

Bhubaneshwar, Feb 14, 2025: Two weeks have passed since the CCBI plenary assembly ended, and its memory has faded from the venue – the Xavier Institute of Management University, Bhubaneswar.

However, it still echoes in the media, especially through M L Satyan, who has taken the crusade upon himself to give justice to the “ill-treated and servant nuns” who served “joyfully” at the CCBI plenary assembly.

As he used Tamil proverbs to drive home his point, let me use a Malayalam proverb: “Kanda nee avide iri, ketta njan parayatte,” (“Wait there if you have seen it, let me speak as I have heard about it.” Since I live on the campus, I was involved in the plenary assembly activities.

Satyan’s two reports — Why do Catholic clergy treat women as servants? And “Treatment by clergy – Nuns speak up” — quote instances from the CCBI plenary assembly. I would like to rebut his views. I do this not out of fear of any clergy, or to please any Church leader. I stand for the dignity of the religious life I have lived in the past 25 years.

In his second report, he has shared the minds of nuns who confided in him about the discrimination they experienced in the church. I respect their unpleasant experiences, but it is unacceptable to mix them with the recently concluded plenary assembly or portraying the “nuns” who served here as servants or victims of ill-treatment by the clergy.

Yes, we did liturgy preparation, arranged the chapel, oversaw the arrangements of vestments, waited as by standards, and were very alert during liturgy celebrations to make sure nothing went wrong. As the host region, we didn’t want any lapse from our side.

We didn’t vest any bishops. For that, we had minor seminarians who assisted senior prelates to wear the vestments properly. Is there anything wrong with aiding the elderly?

Four sisters from two congregations were stationed on the campus to assist liturgical preparation. I joined them since I am accustomed to the campus and its magnificent chapel. Kudos to those four young sisters who meticulously carried out their given task. It required special skill – an eye for detail. Perhaps the organizers spotted women of such caliber.

And does Satyan know how much a congregation invests in their formees, or those in training to become religious, to give them liturgy-related education? It is a huge investment. Therefore, you see sisters excel in music, ikebana, altar decoration, liturgy preparation, and so on. We didn’t learn it at random. Congregations have taken utmost care to equip us with such skills. And it is to be used when and where it is necessary.

In the flow of narration, he has expressed that sisters were doing housekeeping. Well, XIM university has dedicated staff for each department. As a management University, every detail was carried out professionally. That was one of the highlights of holding the assembly on the XIM campus compared to the usual Venue – St. John’s Hospital, Bengaluru.

The formees are given the opportunity to perform cultural programs. It is not just a performance; rather, it is an act of capacity-building and confidence-generating. I thank my formators who always sought the opportunity to showcase their talent. Had they been rigid and conservative in their thoughts, we would never have realized many of our talents.

We are beautiful individuals with marvellous capacities. We use them at the right time and right place. And the Church-related gatherings are a conducive place to express our talents. It was not only nuns who performed, male and female students of XIM too put up a talent show.

Some congregations take sufficient care to train their young ones to face every situation, but leaders in some others may not have such forward thinking.

During the plenary assembly Eucharistic celebration, sisters, brothers, and lay people led the melodious choirs, which was well appreciated except for one day. The assigned congregation overlooked the importance of solemn liturgy, or perhaps they were not well equipped with training. Everyone is not born a musician, but taking enough care to perform the given responsibility well is expected of us religious; that makes us different from a family and a religious community.

Among those who responded to you, the Sister 1 has said, ‘We were asked to conduct 24-hour adoration.” It is factually wrong.

The Blessed Sacrament was exposed in a temporary chapel next to the conference hall. The religious communities were informed that they could make arrangements to sit in adoration as per their availability. Some communities obliged to stay on; others excused themselves. And, it was not only the sisters who sat before the Blessed Sacrament, priests, lay people, and bishops spent time at their convenience.

The Sisters were free to leave at any time. However, the organizer’s plan was fulfilled- there was continuous adoration as someone was always present before the Sacrament during adoration.

I am reminded of Jesus Youth and their love for Sacrament. It was difficult to get some of the Jesus Youth members studying in Bhubaneshwar out of the chapel. “Sister, how we wish to spend the whole day before the Lord,” they told me.

When Satyan meets a sister, I am sure he would tell her, “Sister, pray for me.” Doesn’t he consider a nun as a prayerful person?

In the very first years of our formation, I was told that we are “Religious Missionaries,” not just missionaries who do some social activities, but those giving time for God and Mission equally. That is the essence of a religious life.

If prayer has become a botheration for the religious, it clearly indicates a decline in the quality of formation, intention of vocation, and dedication to the religious life.

Sister 1 also says they had to leave one day at 4:45 am to reach the venue. Yes, in the cold weather, it was a hard task. During the assembly, the Mass timing was 6:45 am. I used to come to the chapel by 6 am.

It was heartening to see at least three bishops already there – two of them very seniors. Given their age and the distance between the chapel and their lodge, they would have woken up at least by 4:30 am. It manifested the strength of the older generation who anchored their lives in prayer.

I also think to feel honored or wanted around is an inside business. We do not become sisters to lead any commission or compete with the clergy. Those honors are the by-products of our efficiency in a given mission.

During the plenary assembly, after my initial apprehension about the lack of inclusivity of women, I was taken up by the humility and unassuming nature of the medical team. There were two sister doctors and two nurses on shift. Remaining in the confinement of an alternative dispensary, they did a marvellous and challenging task.

The distance between the nearest hospital and the XIM Campus was nearly an hour’s journey. And many of the participants had comorbidity and health risks. Those doctors never complained about their task and the risk involved.

The CCBI plenary assembly preparation took a year with many amendments and impositions. I heard that various office bearers and secretaries had visited the venue multiple times to oversee the preparations and give the right directions. Provincials and superiors from each congregation were included at different meetings, and they were responsible for informing their people about the details. If there was any lapse in this communication, it has to be introspected by respected authorities.

Women religious as ex-officio members for the assembly was minimal. Synodality is a call for moving from patriarchy to inclusivity. We hope the Synodal Church will look into this aspect in the coming years. I hope to see a restructuring of the hierarchy with capable and dedicated lay, women, religious, and clergy as leaders of the Indian Church.

Sure, there were some lapses. But that is not my concern here, Satyan has not highlighted them. This is my response to his emphatic consideration of the poor nuns in the Church. All of us believe that change should start from within – from our circles and then from the local and universal Church. The tussle between clergy and nuns also points towards ego clash and male chauvinism.

Referring to Satyan’s gaslighting statement “From these responses it is clear that the nuns did not accept the responsibilities during the CCBI meeting with JOY. Probably, they have fulfilled the given tasks out of FEAR. Today, the nuns and women in the Catholic Church are “oppressed” in many ways,” I would say it was an enriching experience for us nuns and other women staff of XIM.

We gained new experiences, met new people, and understood the dynamism of the Church from a close angle.

(Holy Spirit Sister Tessy Jacob is a PhD scholar living in XIM campus.)