Sister Lucy Kalappura

KOTTAYAM: Sister Lucy Kalappura ’s revelations about the sexual abuse of nuns by the priests in her autobiography titled ‘Karthavinte Namathil’ (In the name of Christ) has once again brought the focus back on the life of nuns.

Sr Lucy, a nun belonging to the order of Franciscan Clarist Congregation in Kerala , who was expelled from the congregation after she took part in a protest seeking the arrest of bishop Franco Mulakkal , who is accused of raping a nun, said that the women who chose to be nuns to serve God end up serving the priests. In the 230-page book, the nun recounts the four incidents in her life where she herself had to face sexual abuse attempts from priests.

In the first incident, she recounts how a priest who was staying as a guest in the convent forcibly kissed and hugged her while she went to his room to place hot water in the bathroom. In another incident, a priest who trained her in keyboard tried to molest her. In the third incident, it was the vicar of a church outside Kerala who made sexual advances during night. She was staying as a guest in the church and she had to use force to escape his clutches. In the fourth incident, a priest much younger to her touched her inappropriately. He gave up when she raised her voice.

She also said that in some convents there was a system of young nuns being forcibly sent to the priests. These nuns are subjected to sexual perversion. Some priests, who are sex maniacs, make these nuns stand before them naked for hours. She also said that the Syro Malabar Church and other men and women congregations had become centres of sexual anarchy.

She revealed that a good number of nuns have relationship with priests and cited this as the reason for the dominant position enjoyed by the priests in the church and convent. She added that several of her convent mates had such relationships. They talk for hours over the phone with these priests. She also said that she had heard stories of nuns who regularly had sex with these priests.

The book also reveals that nuns do not even have the freedom to choose sanitary napkins. They are forced to use napkins irrespective of its quality. Earlier, the nuns who arrived at convent were given a piece of white cloth instead of napkins, the book said.

Meanwhile, the media commission secretary of Syro Malabar Church, Fr Antony Thalachelloor, refused to comment on the book. “The autobiography of the nun does not even deserve a reaction from the Church,” he said.

Laity commission secretary of the Church Jose Vithayathil condemned the efforts of some individuals to defame the Church by joining hands with another individual who was expelled from the congregation on disciplinary grounds. Secretary Jose Vithayathil said the commission dismisses such allegations made by individuals who had never raised such issues in the various forums existed in the Church.



In Video: Sexual abuse by priests: Sister Lucy names and shames priests in autobiography