After Vatican rejection, Sister Lucy to approach court for justice
Thu 17 October 2019:
Hours after the Vatican rejected an appeal against her expulsion order by her congregation, a Kerala nun said justice had not been meted out to her and she would continue her fight from her convent.
Sister Lucy Kalapura, who had participated in protests against rape accused Bishop Franco Mullackal, was expelled by the Franciscan Clarist Congregations in August on disciplinary grounds.
Sister Lucy said she received a letter on Wednesday. “Only one page of it is in English where it has been stated that my appeal has been rejected and if I feel this is against my lawful rights, I can send a new recourse to the supreme tribunal of the Sengatura Apostolica,” she said. “The rest of the pages are in Latin and I have asked for an English translation. I will stay in the convent and fight this as justice has not been meted out to me.”
Stating that her complaint was not heard, she said, “Even over the phone, they could have heard me, but that was not done. I have not got justice.”
In the letter of appeal, the nun had stated the sole reason for victimising her was for showing solidarity with the sisters of Missionaries of Jesus, one of whom was a victim of alleged rape by Bishop Mullackal.
She wrote, “I had only discharged my duty and obligation to console and lend a helping hand to those hapless sisters who had to undergo such trauma in their evangelical journey. This has been misunderstood and misinterpreted as an act of rebellion.”
The congregation, under the Roman Catholic Church, had charged Sister Lucy with publishing poems, buying a car, and taking part in a protest against the rape-accused former bishop of Jalandhar diocese. It had said the nun was issued “proper canonical warnings”, but did not show the needed remorse.
A few of the other reasons cited in the letter of expulsion were wilful disobedience, defying the laws of congregation, following a lifestyle that does not abide by the practices of the Church, obtaining a driver’s licence, travelling frequently without the permission of the congregation, not giving her salary to the congregation, letting a person stay in her room overnight, not abiding by the transfer order of 2015, and giving interviews to the media.
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