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Lockdown has made my life miserable, says expelled Kerala nun
Sister Lucy Kalapura was expelled last year citing “serious indiscipline” but the nun has said she was victimised for supporting the agitation for the arrest of the Franco Mullakkal, the deposed bishop of Jalandhar who has been accused of rape.
A 55-year-old Catholic nun from Kerala, who was expelled from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation last year, said on Saturday she was being denied basic needs, including food, at the convent she lives in amid the Covid-19 lockdown and even fears for her life.
Sister Lucy Kalapura was expelled last year citing “serious indiscipline” but the nun has said she was victimised for supporting the agitation for the arrest of the Franco Mullakkal, the deposed bishop of Jalandhar who has been accused of rape.
“The convent kitchen was closed to smoke me out. Since hotels are closed at times I go without food these days. Sometimes people who know me bring food,” she said over the phone from Mananthawady in Wayanad district.
“It is strange the church is doing a lot of charity outside but keeps one of its own tribe starving at the convent. It is an inhuman and blatant violation of rights,” she said.
The nun said she “fears for her life” and complained to the police a couple of times but no action has been taken.
“Recently, I noticed some strangers near the convent. A section in the church wants to silence me somehow. But I will continue my fight till my last breath,” she said adding she will continue to stay at the convent in Karakkamala.
The congregation denied her allegations, saying she has been breaking the convent’s rules.
“She continues to flout discipline and raises wild allegations quite often. She was expelled from the congregation but she continues to stay there as an intruder. With her presence, we find it very difficult to maintain discipline and decorum of the convent,” Jyoti Maria, provincial of the convent, said.
Maria said parishioners gave a mass memorandum last week, urging authorities to vacate her from the convent.
Kalapura said she has worked for the congregation for 35 years and will remain at the convent. She also said a local court had stayed the move to evict her from the convent.
Maria, however, said they moved a higher court to vacate this stay.
Kalapura said her harassment increased after her controversial autobiography, Karthavinte Namathil (In The Name of Christ), was released in December last year.
She alleged in her autobiography that sexual abuse and assaults take place in convents and seminaries and called for institutional reforms to cleanse the system.
She was among many nuns who staged a sit-in protest in Kochi two years ago after police failed to arrest Mullakkal, who was accused of raping a nun who later filed a complaint. The trial in the case began in a court in Kottayam in January.
Earlier, the Pope had turned down her plea to revoke her suspension.
