Kochi: A Kerala nun, who has challenged the Franciscan Clarist Congregation’s decision to expel her, has written to the Vatican, alleging the ‘disciplinary action’ was taken for participating in protests by a group of nuns seeking the arrest of a bishop accused of raping a fellow nun.
In her letter to Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect, Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Sister Lucy Kalappura also sought an opportunity to her to appear in person before a tribunal which would consider her appeal against the Congregation’s decision. She has also sought an opportunity to present her case to Pope Francis.
The Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Vatican had dismissed Sister Lucy’s first appeal challenging the Franciscan Clarist Congregation’s decision to expel her for “failing to give a satisfactory explanation for her lifestyle in violation of FCC laws”.
However, it allowed her to present a new recourse to the Supreme Tribunal of the Segnatura Apostolica in the Vatican. “I am deeply obliged for providing me with the opportunity for a further appeal to the Supreme Tribunal of the Signatura Apostolica. It is desired, in this connection, that an opportunity be granted to me to appear in person before the Tribunal to enable me to present to its honourable members my side of the situation.
“It is requested, further, that I will be granted an opportunity to present my case to Pope Francis, whom I venerate and in whose sense of justice I have absolute faith”, the nun said in her letter to Leonardo Cardinal Sandri.
Sister Lucy Kalappura, who took part in a protest by nuns belonging to Missionaries of Jesus Congregation, seeking the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun, was expelled by the FCC in August this year. In her letter, the nun said the FCC congregation initiated’disciplinary action’ against her. “In my case too, what purports to be ‘disciplinary action’, and what in reality are reprisals, against me commenced only after I stood by the sisters of the Missionaries of Jesus in their efforts to secure justice for the outraged nun. This is amply evident from the show cause notice issued to me, a copy of which is attached for ready reference,” she said.
She submitted that the Franco Mulakkal case has already attained unprecedented public attention and people of diverse persuasions are seized of how it is going to pan out. “What aggravates its repugnance is that it has burst into public attention amidst a series of corruption charges and criminal acts ascribed to church leaders of diverse denominations in Kerala. “The only thing that will salvage the credibility of the Catholic Church in this context is to be seen as committed to truth and justice, without fear or favour. Attempts to the contrary are sure to be self-condemnatory; a concern that I can not disown”, the nun said.
In its notice to the nun early in January, the congregation termed as “grave violations”, Sister Lucy possessing a driving licence, buying a car, taking a loan for it and publishing a book and spending money without the permission and knowledge of her superiors.
The nun dismissed charges levelled against her by the congregation, saying many of them were a “deliberate attempt to paint her in a bad light.” In its notices, the FCC alleged the nun violated its dress code in public without any permission and caused grave external scandal and harm to the Church by participating in the protest by ‘Save Our Sisters Action Council’ on September 20, 2018, at Kochi, seeking the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun in Kerala. The FCC, under the Roman Catholic Church, said the nun was issued “proper canonical warnings”, but did not show the needed remorse.
(With inputs from PTI)
