The Sisterhood of Resistance

IF JUSTICE IS a flower, truth is its fragrance. It would give out the aroma of truth all across the world,’ says Sister Lucy Kalappura’s WhatsApp status.

Sister Lucy does not need an introduction. For those not following the news, she’s the nun who was thrown out of her convent for her ‘lifestyle’. Her ‘sins’ include writing poetry, procuring a driving licence and a car and speaking to the media. Or so her congregation would have you believe. The real reason is her open criticism of rape-accused Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, soon to face trial under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly raping a nun. Recently, she declared that after death, her body be given to a medical college for academic purposes. She is the first nun in the country to make that commitment against the norms set by the Church.

Sister Lucy has been served with a series of show-cause notices citing ‘lifestyle inappropriate to the norms of the Church, violating the three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty’. The Franciscan Clarist Congregation has also served a notice to Sister Lucy’s mother asking her to take her daughter back home. In response, Sister Lucy has sent an appeal to the Pope against her expulsion instead of being pushed out of the convent at Karakkamala in Wayanad. “I will not yield to their unjust and unilateral decisions. They can’t ask me to go on a fine morning bare-handed after decades of selfless service as a nun,” she says. Despite injunctions, she speaks to the media and posts Facebook updates about the protests against Bishop Mulakkal. She informed us when someone tried to snatch her mobile. She informed us when she was locked up in her room. Apart from making the public angry, her updates have also forced the police to intervene. She filed a police complaint against the priest who tried to shame her by releasing insinuating footage of two men leaving the convent after visiting her. They were actually journalists whom Sister Lucy entrusted with a copy of the manuscript of her autobiography, to be published soon (the footage was edited to mask the woman in the group, also a journalist and wife of one of the men). She has filed a police complaint against Father Noble Thomas Parakkal, a priest of the diocese, for releasing the private footage.

Stories of nuns facing sexual violence, discrimination and oppression abound in all countries where the Catholic Church has a presence. Kerala, a powerful seat of the Church in India, is no different. But for the first time nuns in the state have taken to the streets. Along with Sister Anupama, Sister Lucy is one of the many who have joined the protests against the patriarchal Church. The Church authorities remain unmoved despite the drastic decline in the number of women joining to be nuns. In 2015, as per a study, in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, which has 109,218 Catholic families, there were 1,742 priests, 6,781 nuns and 74 brothers. However, against 735 seminarians (men training to be priests) there were only 210 aspirants to nunneries. “This shows a sharp fall,” says Father Paul Thelekkat, the spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Church.But this is a global phenomenon, Thelekkat adds. He cites several reasons for this. “The most important reason could be the atomic families where there are no more than one or two children. Secondly, the market economy and consumerism create a culture detrimental to an ascetic culture, which alone produces men and women oriented to service and self-sacrifice. The market culture is centred on self-interest and self-satisfaction. Thirdly, scandals and stories dissuade girls and their parents,” says Thelekkat.

Unlike Thelekkat who underplays the role of sexual exploitation, Indulekha Joseph, an activist of the Kerala Church Act Action Council, says the independence and freedom that today’s girls want are major factors behind this decline. “No wonder women who want to breathe fresh air do not prefer to join nunneries.” In the past, poverty forced girls to become nuns, she says. “There were eight-nine children in one family and the poor parents had no means to educate or marry all the daughters and hence used to send one or two in the family to be priests and nuns. The nuclear families of our times have brought an end to this practice,” Indulekha says. She also highlights diminishing spirituality at the Church. There was a time when priests and nuns were respected by society. Now, everyone knows about the stories of sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of class and colour and the countless stories of hardships imposed on nuns,” Indulekha says.

THE RAPE ALLEGATION against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal and the nuns’ strike, a first in the history of the Church, has opened a can of worms. Christians themselves have come out in support of the nuns who went on a hunger strike demanding justice for the nun who was raped. All the nuns, including Sister Anupama, leading the protests have been facing resistance from the Church. Four of them from the Kuruvilangadu convent were transferred to different places. But in the wake of public anger that followed, the transfer orders were suspended. Shaming and threats to life have forced many of the protesting nuns, including Sister Anupama, to keep mum. The sudden demise of Father Kuriakkose Kattuthara, a priest who deposed against Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the rape case, sent shivers down the spine of everyone who was a party in the case. Father Kuriakkose was found dead in his room in Dasuya at Hoshiarpur in Jalandhar. Though there was no sign of murder, a case for unnatural death was filed, followed by a complaint from his family members. The incident scared the nuns on strike too. Gradually, most have withdrawn from public gaze and have stopped talking to the media.

The vows are being strictly imposed only on nuns, not on priests. The men face no restrictions on travel, entertainment or expenditure. “Vow of obedience is not absolute slavery,” Sister Lucy says. A fellow nun was ‘punished’ for going to a movie. “She was not alone. She went with a family that was very close to her, yet she was ‘caught’ by the priests who also were there to watch the movie. She was treated as if she had committed a big sin. Why are such special rules being imposed on nuns? The priests go for every cinema and even write film reviews,” she says.

In some convents, nuns are not even allowed sanitary napkins—they use cotton clothes. “The allowance given to nuns is meagre. If we go for napkins, they have to provide more money, that is the reason they insist we use clothes in the old style. It is indeed unhygienic. Even women in the most backward sections of society have stopped using clothes and shifted to napkins,” says a nun on condition of anonymity.

But nuns are not alone anymore in their protestations. Indian Currents, a Church magazine published under the patronage of the Capuchins of Krist Jyoti Province of north India, brought out an entire issue on the ordeal of nuns in August last year. The editorial, titled ‘The Wail behind the veil’, corroborates these nuns’ agonising stories. The editorial said: ‘It may sound primitive, but it is a fact that in many cases, nuns and novices continue with the unhygienic practice of using clothes during their menstruation period as sanitary pads are a strict ‘no’.’ Written by Chief Editor Suresh Mathew, himself a priest, the editorial talked about human rights violations under the powerful Church. In many convents, nuns are not allowed to use moIF JUSTICE IS a flower, truth is its fragrance. It would give out the aroma of truth all across the world,’ says Sister Lucy Kalappura’s WhatsApp status.

Sister Lucy does not need an introduction. For those not following the news, she’s the nun who was thrown out of her convent for her ‘lifestyle’. Her ‘sins’ include writing poetry, procuring a driving licence and a car and speaking to the media. Or so her congregation would have you believe. The real reason is her open criticism of rape-accused Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, soon to face trial under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly raping a nun. Recently, she declared that after death, her body be given to a medical college for academic purposes. She is the first nun in the country to make that commitment against the norms set by the Church.

Sister Lucy has been served with a series of show-cause notices citing ‘lifestyle inappropriate to the norms of the Church, violating the three vows of obedience, chastity and poverty’. The Franciscan Clarist Congregation has also served a notice to Sister Lucy’s mother asking her to take her daughter back home. In response, Sister Lucy has sent an appeal to the Pope against her expulsion instead of being pushed out of the convent at Karakkamala in Wayanad. “I will not yield to their unjust and unilateral decisions. They can’t ask me to go on a fine morning bare-handed after decades of selfless service as a nun,” she says. Despite injunctions, she speaks to the media and posts Facebook updates about the protests against Bishop Mulakkal. She informed us when someone tried to snatch her mobile. She informed us when she was locked up in her room. Apart from making the public angry, her updates have also forced the police to intervene. She filed a police complaint against the priest who tried to shame her by releasing insinuating footage of two men leaving the convent after visiting her. They were actually journalists whom Sister Lucy entrusted with a copy of the manuscript of her autobiography, to be published soon (the footage was edited to mask the woman in the group, also a journalist and wife of one of the men). She has filed a police complaint against Father Noble Thomas Parakkal, a priest of the diocese, for releasing the private footage.

Stories of nuns facing sexual violence, discrimination and oppression abound in all countries where the Catholic Church has a presence. Kerala, a powerful seat of the Church in India, is no different. But for the first time nuns in the state have taken to the streets. Along with Sister Anupama, Sister Lucy is one of the many who have joined the protests against the patriarchal Church. The Church authorities remain unmoved despite the drastic decline in the number of women joining to be nuns. In 2015, as per a study, in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, which has 109,218 Catholic families, there were 1,742 priests, 6,781 nuns and 74 brothers. However, against 735 seminarians (men training to be priests) there were only 210 aspirants to nunneries. “This shows a sharp fall,” says Father Paul Thelekkat, the spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Church.But this is a global phenomenon, Thelekkat adds. He cites several reasons for this. “The most important reason could be the atomic families where there are no more than one or two children. Secondly, the market economy and consumerism create a culture detrimental to an ascetic culture, which alone produces men and women oriented to service and self-sacrifice. The market culture is centred on self-interest and self-satisfaction. Thirdly, scandals and stories dissuade girls and their parents,” says Thelekkat.

Unlike Thelekkat who underplays the role of sexual exploitation, Indulekha Joseph, an activist of the Kerala Church Act Action Council, says the independence and freedom that today’s girls want are major factors behind this decline. “No wonder women who want to breathe fresh air do not prefer to join nunneries.” In the past, poverty forced girls to become nuns, she says. “There were eight-nine children in one family and the poor parents had no means to educate or marry all the daughters and hence used to send one or two in the family to be priests and nuns. The nuclear families of our times have brought an end to this practice,” Indulekha says. She also highlights diminishing spirituality at the Church. There was a time when priests and nuns were respected by society. Now, everyone knows about the stories of sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of class and colour and the countless stories of hardships imposed on nuns,” Indulekha says.

THE RAPE ALLEGATION against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal and the nuns’ strike, a first in the history of the Church, has opened a can of worms. Christians themselves have come out in support of the nuns who went on a hunger strike demanding justice for the nun who was raped. All the nuns, including Sister Anupama, leading the protests have been facing resistance from the Church. Four of them from the Kuruvilangadu convent were transferred to different places. But in the wake of public anger that followed, the transfer orders were suspended. Shaming and threats to life have forced many of the protesting nuns, including Sister Anupama, to keep mum. The sudden demise of Father Kuriakkose Kattuthara, a priest who deposed against Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the rape case, sent shivers down the spine of everyone who was a party in the case. Father Kuriakkose was found dead in his room in Dasuya at Hoshiarpur in Jalandhar. Though there was no sign of murder, a case for unnatural death was filed, followed by a complaint from his family members. The incident scared the nuns on strike too. Gradually, most have withdrawn from public gaze and have stopped talking to the media.

The vows are being strictly imposed only on nuns, not on priests. The men face no restrictions on travel, entertainment or expenditure. “Vow of obedience is not absolute slavery,” Sister Lucy says. A fellow nun was ‘punished’ for going to a movie. “She was not alone. She went with a family that was very close to her, yet she was ‘caught’ by the priests who also were there to watch the movie. She was treated as if she had committed a big sin. Why are such special rules being imposed on nuns? The priests go for every cinema and even write film reviews,” she says.

In some convents, nuns are not even allowed sanitary napkins—they use cotton clothes. “The allowance given to nuns is meagre. If we go for napkins, they have to provide more money, that is the reason they insist we use clothes in the old style. It is indeed unhygienic. Even women in the most backward sections of society have stopped using clothes and shifted to napkins,” says a nun on condition of anonymity.

But nuns are not alone anymore in their protestations. Indian Currents, a Church magazine published under the patronage of the Capuchins of Krist Jyoti Province of north India, brought out an entire issue on the ordeal of nuns in August last year. The editorial, titled ‘The Wail behind the veil’, corroborates these nuns’ agonising stories. The editorial said: ‘It may sound primitive, but it is a fact that in many cases, nuns and novices continue with the unhygienic practice of using clothes during their menstruation period as sanitary pads are a strict ‘no’.’ Written by Chief Editor Suresh Mathew, himself a priest, the editorial talked about human rights violations under the powerful Church. In many convents, nuns are not allowed to use mobile phones or personal emails. There is discrimination between earning and non-earning members within congregations. The editorial further observed that nuns usually do not complain because they are well aware of the power of the clergy to ‘strangulate the truth’. The editorial also pointed out that allegations of rape against Bishop Mulakkal were only the tip of the iceberg. The sword of disciplinary action hangs upon the heads of all who raise their voice. Though reluctant to speak to Open, Mathew allowed us to use any material already published in the magazine.

SISTER KALAPPURA IS not the only nun who was shown the exit for violating the vow of ‘obedience’. “Generally nuns go out silently. It is a very tough decision to protest as Sister Lucy did,”says Sister Telsa (name changed) who was expelled at the age of 53. She says she was asked to quit as she was not willing to condone the corrupt practices of the Church authorities. Sister Telsa is now 72 . She joined another congregation, not as a nun, but as a volunteer. She sees little value in talking to the media about these issues. “The Church is like a hard rock. You are simply hitting your head against it, you will be hurt and bleed—the rock remains the same,” she says even as she supports Sister Lucy and others up against the priests.

“The nuns are reluctant to report the abuses because they are scared that they would not get support and would be ostracised by the priesthood,” says Sister Julie George, a women’s rights lawyer and a member of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit congregation. “Their fears are legitimate. Generally, the Church authorities tend to discredit women in cases of allegations of sexual harassment,” she adds.

The mysterious death of Sister Abhaya is under trial finally after investigations began 27 years ago. The 19-year-old nun was found dead in a well in the compound of St Pious Xth Convent on March 27th, 1992. A series of investigations by multiple agencies, the longest run murder investigation in the history of Kerala, produced no significant breakthrough. The Central Bureau of Investigation finally concluded that Abhaya was murdered, but they could not ascertain who the killer was as they could not find any evidence (this was the conclusion of the second team after the first team failed to find even the reason behind her death). When a third team took over the case, it contended two priests and a nun had killed her. After years of filmy episodes of investigation and tracing evidence resulting from procedures like polygraph tests, a chargesheet was submitted. The trial started only a week ago. On the very first day, one of the key witnesses turned hostile. Only to be followed by another one on the second day. “We have little hope that justice would prevail. Twenty-seven years have passed, what is the relevance of a trial at all?” asks Maria, a former nun who gave up nunnery following discrimination and harassment. She has been working as a tutor in a private school for socially marginalised communities. Maria says she does not blame the witnesses who have turned hostile. If they depose against the priests, they will be harassed too. They can’t handle that in their old age.

But the odd success stories keep the rest going. The case of the CMC sisters of the Little Flower Convent in Narakkal is unique in the history of the Church in Kerala. The parish priests laid claim to the property of the convent, six acres and 30 cents, and two institutions, the Little Flower High School and St Joseph’s High School, by allegedly forging documents of ownership. The nuns took them to court and after over a decade, finally won an order from the Supreme Court in their favour. That has not stopped the priests from taking revenge. In another case, the ownership of an orphanage being run by the nuns was disputed. One of the sisters who fought the property battle says she would not give up till death. “This is not a fight for property, but one for justice,” she says on condition of anonymity.

Nuns constitute the largest workforce in the Church—many of them are employed for cheap labour, says Sister Julie. Many convents in Kerala are on the verge of closure due to the dwindling number of nuns. “The divinity in being a priest or nun is lost. It was a thing of respect in the past. Not any more,” says Indulekha Joseph. The nuns who spoke to Open believe convents will become history if the Church ignores the writing on the wall.

ChurchesKeralanunssexual harassmentsociety