Profession of of the nun-hood in Kerala
In Kerala many nuns are forced into convents by parents too poor to marry them off. Marriage expenses of these communities are a major concern to these parents. The dowaries for marriageble girls are also out of question.
Under such conditions, an opportunity to send a daughter off to a convent is like a godsend--- hundreds of families took advantage of it and encourage their daughters to join convents as they pass the tenth standard and later made to entrol as nuns. The Church in Kerala is booking profit out of this economic backwardness that still exists amongst the Christian families and thus recruits girls from such families as nuns.
More over there have been cases where male members of the family forcibly send girls to the nunnery as they do not want to part with their properties. Nuns have no right to property as they adopt nun's life after taking the poverty pledge. commission's observation about the poor plight of nuns in the convents
Violation of Human Rights
Society and religious bodies should see plight of nuns as human rights issue. The practice of recruiting girls to the convents before 18 must go.The recruitment to the profession of nunnery at the tender age is not different from girl-foeticide, so it must be treated as criminal act and those who involve, with out considering the social status of person, must brought before the law.
If criminal laws are not sufficient to deal with, it should make further laws to book the culprits. State government also should enact a law to prevent exploitation of nuns.The girls who became nuns should be allowed to retain the share of the family wealth they inherited.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Sister Abhaya's murder
Sr Abhaya case
Sr Abhaya case was the beginning of a new turn in the history of church sponsored criminalism in Kerala. The body of 21 year Sr Abhaya was found lifeless in the well of a Convent well in 1992. When the body was found, church authorities told the media that she had committed suicide, but investigations concluded that Sr. Abhaya was not only killed but raped and killed! The chemical examination at the Government Forensic Lab pointed to Abhaya being raped before murder.
Investigators say two theories behind Sr Abhaya's death. One, she was murdered when she refused the sexual advances of a priest or a bishop. Second, she was killed because she knew that some of her colleague nuns had sexual relationships with two Catholic priests. However, CBI is yet to book the culprits behind the murder of Sr Abhaya even after 16 years.
The above mentioned are only some identical incidents from a dozen convent tragedies that took place in the recent past. These mysterious deaths of nuns clearly underly problems in convent life for women in Kerala. These incidence also give credence to the State Women's Commission's observation that all is not well in the convents in the state.
Sr Abhaya case was the beginning of a new turn in the history of church sponsored criminalism in Kerala. The body of 21 year Sr Abhaya was found lifeless in the well of a Convent well in 1992. When the body was found, church authorities told the media that she had committed suicide, but investigations concluded that Sr. Abhaya was not only killed but raped and killed! The chemical examination at the Government Forensic Lab pointed to Abhaya being raped before murder.
Investigators say two theories behind Sr Abhaya's death. One, she was murdered when she refused the sexual advances of a priest or a bishop. Second, she was killed because she knew that some of her colleague nuns had sexual relationships with two Catholic priests. However, CBI is yet to book the culprits behind the murder of Sr Abhaya even after 16 years.
The above mentioned are only some identical incidents from a dozen convent tragedies that took place in the recent past. These mysterious deaths of nuns clearly underly problems in convent life for women in Kerala. These incidence also give credence to the State Women's Commission's observation that all is not well in the convents in the state.
Sister Aunpa Mary Murdered
Christian girls in Kerala who are destined to be as nuns or bride of the Jesus, are facing sexual harassments and ill treatments within the four walls of the Christian convents. For the last two decades the disastrous end of young girls who embraced the nun-hood turned to be a news item in the column of the newspapers of Kerala. So far a dozen such news catches the headings of the press.The latest in the list is Anupa Mary, a young nun killed herself in her room on Monday, August 11 after leaving an alleged suicide note blaming the mother superior, prompting calls for a probe into 'unsavoury' happenings inside convents.
The body of Anupa Mary, 24, an inmate of St Mary's Convent was found hanging in the convent on Monday, Aug 11 evening. Anupa, a native of Kundara in Kollam, had also left a suicide note, saying she was forced to take the extreme step due to the mental harassment meted out by a senior nun.
Sister Anupa Mary's father Pappachan, a cook at Catholic Bishop's House at Kollam, 70km from the Kerala capital, claimed she had been sexually abused. He said Mother Superior Albena forced his daughter to “go into her room to share her bed". Anupa had shared this shocking experience with her mother and sister, he added.
Christian clergy in Kerala has been confronted with several sex scandals in the recent past.
The body of Anupa Mary, 24, an inmate of St Mary's Convent was found hanging in the convent on Monday, Aug 11 evening. Anupa, a native of Kundara in Kollam, had also left a suicide note, saying she was forced to take the extreme step due to the mental harassment meted out by a senior nun.
Sister Anupa Mary's father Pappachan, a cook at Catholic Bishop's House at Kollam, 70km from the Kerala capital, claimed she had been sexually abused. He said Mother Superior Albena forced his daughter to “go into her room to share her bed". Anupa had shared this shocking experience with her mother and sister, he added.
Christian clergy in Kerala has been confronted with several sex scandals in the recent past.
Sister Abhaya murder case
Supreme Court judge's name crops up in Kerala nun's murder hearing
In a shocking twist to the 17-year-old Sister Abhaya murder case, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel told the Kerala High Court Monday that the then chief justice of Karnataka, and now a Supreme Court judge, Cyriac Joseph had inspected a CD of a narco-analysis test conducted in Bangalore on three accused.
CBI counsel S. Sreekumar told a division bench that assistant director with the Forensic Science Laboratory, Malini, during questioning by the investigative agency, had said that Joseph had viewed the CD in May last year and vouched for its veracity.
The counsel made the observation after the victim's father A. Thomas filed a contempt petition against the CBI for failing to investigate reports that the CD containing the narco-analysis tests was not original.
The Kerala High Court had earlier directed the CBI to verify the reports that said the CD was tampered with.
Thomas' counsel A.S. Varghese, reacting to the CBI counsel's verbal submission before the court, said that a Karnataka High Court judge inspecting the tapes of a murder case being investigated and put to trial in neighbouring Kerala was 'very strange'.
'He was the chief justice of the Karnataka High Court and in that court no case pertaining to Abhaya's murder was filed. So why should he go to the laboratory and examine this CD?' Varghese told reporters.
The division bench asked the CBI to file a detailed reply regarding the statement made by Malini and posted the case for Aug 18.
The body of Sister Abhaya, a resident of Pius X Hostel, was found in the well of the Kottayam convent March 27, 1992.
The charge sheet filed last month names Thomas M. Kottor, the Diocesan chancellor of the Catholic Church at Kottayam, Jose Putarika, a former professor at the Kottayam College where Abhaya studied, and Sister Seffi, a resident of the convent when the incident took place.
The CBI had arrested the three accused Nov 19 last year but all of them secured bail Jan 1 this year.
In a shocking twist to the 17-year-old Sister Abhaya murder case, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel told the Kerala High Court Monday that the then chief justice of Karnataka, and now a Supreme Court judge, Cyriac Joseph had inspected a CD of a narco-analysis test conducted in Bangalore on three accused.
CBI counsel S. Sreekumar told a division bench that assistant director with the Forensic Science Laboratory, Malini, during questioning by the investigative agency, had said that Joseph had viewed the CD in May last year and vouched for its veracity.
The counsel made the observation after the victim's father A. Thomas filed a contempt petition against the CBI for failing to investigate reports that the CD containing the narco-analysis tests was not original.
The Kerala High Court had earlier directed the CBI to verify the reports that said the CD was tampered with.
Thomas' counsel A.S. Varghese, reacting to the CBI counsel's verbal submission before the court, said that a Karnataka High Court judge inspecting the tapes of a murder case being investigated and put to trial in neighbouring Kerala was 'very strange'.
'He was the chief justice of the Karnataka High Court and in that court no case pertaining to Abhaya's murder was filed. So why should he go to the laboratory and examine this CD?' Varghese told reporters.
The division bench asked the CBI to file a detailed reply regarding the statement made by Malini and posted the case for Aug 18.
The body of Sister Abhaya, a resident of Pius X Hostel, was found in the well of the Kottayam convent March 27, 1992.
The charge sheet filed last month names Thomas M. Kottor, the Diocesan chancellor of the Catholic Church at Kottayam, Jose Putarika, a former professor at the Kottayam College where Abhaya studied, and Sister Seffi, a resident of the convent when the incident took place.
The CBI had arrested the three accused Nov 19 last year but all of them secured bail Jan 1 this year.
Nun Jesme Raphael
A former nun has rocked the Church in the South Indian state of Kerala with an autobiography in which she details illicit relationships, sexual harassment and bullying that she says occurred in the convent where she spent 30 years.
UCA News reports the Church is playing down a former nun's controversial autobiography.
A leading English language daily, "The Indian Express," ran a story on February 19, titled "Ex-nun's confession set to rock Kerala Church." The newspaper carried excerpts from the autobiography of Jesme Raphael, a former nun and member of the Congregation of Mother of Carmel.
The book, in Malayalam, was released in mid-February under the title "Dedicated to Jesus, Amen."
In the book, Sister Jesme says when she became a nun she discovered priests were forcing novices to have sex with them, the New Zealand Herald reports.
There were also secret homosexual relationships among the nuns and at one point she was forced into such a relationship by another nun who told her she preferred this kind of arrangement as it ruled out the possibility of pregnancy.
"I did not want to make this book controversial. I want to express my feelings and to explain what happened to me ... I want people to know how I have suffered," she said, speaking from the town of Kozhikode.
"People say that everything is OK, but I was in the convent and I want them to know what goes on. I have concerns for others."
In her book, she says that while travelling through Bangalore, she was once directed to stay with a purportedly pious priest who took her to a garden "and showed me several pairs cuddling behind trees. He also gave me a sermon on the necessity of physical love and described the illicit affairs that certain bishops and priests had."
Fr Paul Thelakat, spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, dismissed the autobiography as "trivial" and an "aberration of the Church." However, the Church official agreed the nun's autobiography would "certainly tarnish" the Church's image and create confusion among Catholics about convent life.
"Many people are going to believe (Raphael's) words as she was a principal in a women's college. So the Church should take it seriously," Fr Thelakat said.
The Church needs to review issues related to Catholic religious life in Kerala in the wake of the book release, and restructure religious formation courses to meet modern challenges, he added.
The priest also agreed the autobiography could become another tool in the hands of the Church's critics.
Fr Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, declined to comment on the issue, saying he had not read the book. "From the media reports, I am aware that a book by an ex-nun is published. We will discuss the issue later," he said, adding that the Church "would take appropriate actions regarding her allegations."
In an interview, Raphael, 50, said she did not write the book for fame. She left the convent in August 2008 after 33 years of religious life.
"When I left the convent, I thought that I should share my feelings," she explained. The book, she added, is "an evaluation of my past, more than a revelation" about convent life.
She claims she has written only the truth.
The book is the latest controversy to haunt the Catholic Church in Kerala where local Christians believe Saint Thomas the Apostle first preached Christianity.
On February 11, a nun committed suicide, the second such case reported in the state in six months. In November last year, the police arrested two priests and a nun in connection with the murder of another nun nearly 17 years ago.
Pope Benedict suspended Bishop John Thattumkal of Cochin in October amid controversy over his adoption of a young woman as his daughter, UCA News says.
UCA News reports the Church is playing down a former nun's controversial autobiography.
A leading English language daily, "The Indian Express," ran a story on February 19, titled "Ex-nun's confession set to rock Kerala Church." The newspaper carried excerpts from the autobiography of Jesme Raphael, a former nun and member of the Congregation of Mother of Carmel.
The book, in Malayalam, was released in mid-February under the title "Dedicated to Jesus, Amen."
In the book, Sister Jesme says when she became a nun she discovered priests were forcing novices to have sex with them, the New Zealand Herald reports.
There were also secret homosexual relationships among the nuns and at one point she was forced into such a relationship by another nun who told her she preferred this kind of arrangement as it ruled out the possibility of pregnancy.
"I did not want to make this book controversial. I want to express my feelings and to explain what happened to me ... I want people to know how I have suffered," she said, speaking from the town of Kozhikode.
"People say that everything is OK, but I was in the convent and I want them to know what goes on. I have concerns for others."
In her book, she says that while travelling through Bangalore, she was once directed to stay with a purportedly pious priest who took her to a garden "and showed me several pairs cuddling behind trees. He also gave me a sermon on the necessity of physical love and described the illicit affairs that certain bishops and priests had."
Fr Paul Thelakat, spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, dismissed the autobiography as "trivial" and an "aberration of the Church." However, the Church official agreed the nun's autobiography would "certainly tarnish" the Church's image and create confusion among Catholics about convent life.
"Many people are going to believe (Raphael's) words as she was a principal in a women's college. So the Church should take it seriously," Fr Thelakat said.
The Church needs to review issues related to Catholic religious life in Kerala in the wake of the book release, and restructure religious formation courses to meet modern challenges, he added.
The priest also agreed the autobiography could become another tool in the hands of the Church's critics.
Fr Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, declined to comment on the issue, saying he had not read the book. "From the media reports, I am aware that a book by an ex-nun is published. We will discuss the issue later," he said, adding that the Church "would take appropriate actions regarding her allegations."
In an interview, Raphael, 50, said she did not write the book for fame. She left the convent in August 2008 after 33 years of religious life.
"When I left the convent, I thought that I should share my feelings," she explained. The book, she added, is "an evaluation of my past, more than a revelation" about convent life.
She claims she has written only the truth.
The book is the latest controversy to haunt the Catholic Church in Kerala where local Christians believe Saint Thomas the Apostle first preached Christianity.
On February 11, a nun committed suicide, the second such case reported in the state in six months. In November last year, the police arrested two priests and a nun in connection with the murder of another nun nearly 17 years ago.
Pope Benedict suspended Bishop John Thattumkal of Cochin in October amid controversy over his adoption of a young woman as his daughter, UCA News says.
Kerala nun caught in sex clip dismissed
Kerala nun caught in sex clip dismissed
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A convent has sent back a senior nun after she was found in a sex clip being circulated through MMS in central Kerala.
The nun, who had taken special vows committing her to a religious life 21 years back at the age of 17, admitted to the authorities that she had had consensual sex with a driver and she did not know the act was "being caught on camera."
Following this, the congregation of Mother of Carmel at Aluva in Ernakulam district asked her to leave the sacred robes and return to her home in nearby Alappuzha district, the church sources said.
The MMS clip surfaced in Aluva on Friday at the time when the 142-year-old congregation was to shift the nun, who was working on the front desk of the hospital, to a new hospital set up by it recently.
One of the "well wishers" of the all-nun institution informed them that her "hot clips" were spreading fast in the region.
When questioned, the nun requested them to relieve her since she had committed the cardinal sin and brought defame to the nunnery.
In a similar incident three years back, a nun with a convent in the nearby Parumbavoor town was sent back to lead normal life after she admitted to have had sex with a driver there.
Last week, police arrested a priest, along with a film director and politician, accusing him of raping a minor girl during a yearlong abduction by a sex racket. Kerala Women's Commission had recently requested the state government to initiate legal action against those who force minor girls into nunneries after it received several complaints of unwilling teenagers being forced to take the vow by relatives.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A convent has sent back a senior nun after she was found in a sex clip being circulated through MMS in central Kerala.
The nun, who had taken special vows committing her to a religious life 21 years back at the age of 17, admitted to the authorities that she had had consensual sex with a driver and she did not know the act was "being caught on camera."
Following this, the congregation of Mother of Carmel at Aluva in Ernakulam district asked her to leave the sacred robes and return to her home in nearby Alappuzha district, the church sources said.
The MMS clip surfaced in Aluva on Friday at the time when the 142-year-old congregation was to shift the nun, who was working on the front desk of the hospital, to a new hospital set up by it recently.
One of the "well wishers" of the all-nun institution informed them that her "hot clips" were spreading fast in the region.
When questioned, the nun requested them to relieve her since she had committed the cardinal sin and brought defame to the nunnery.
In a similar incident three years back, a nun with a convent in the nearby Parumbavoor town was sent back to lead normal life after she admitted to have had sex with a driver there.
Last week, police arrested a priest, along with a film director and politician, accusing him of raping a minor girl during a yearlong abduction by a sex racket. Kerala Women's Commission had recently requested the state government to initiate legal action against those who force minor girls into nunneries after it received several complaints of unwilling teenagers being forced to take the vow by relatives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)