INDIA
Matters India
Kochi: An Italy-based Catholic religious congregation for women has set a new trend in the Indian Church by monetarily helping a former member settle down in life.
“The Agatha Sisters were generous enough to give her 12 Lakhs (1.2 million) rupees,” Father Paul Thelakat, spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church who mediated between the former nun and the congregation, told Matters India on Monday.
The decision to pay the former nun, who uses the one name of Anitha, was taken at a conciliation meeting on Sunday held at St Joseph’s Church, Snehapuram Church Road, Aluva, in Kerala.
Anitha’s immediate relatives and Jose Maveli, chairperson of Janaseva Sisubhavan, an orphanage where the former nun had taken refuge, also attended the meeting.
As per the terms of the settlement, Anitha has to return her religious dress and claims to be a member of the congregation. she had refused to give up her religious life after she was expelled from the congregation.
She had earlier threatened to hold a sit-in outside her convent – the Sisters of St. Agatha convent in Aluva near Kochi – which had refused to take her back on her return from Italy on February 20.
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