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The Syro Malabar Church in Kerala gave Rs 12 lakh to a former nun as settlement to ‘build a new life’. The nun had accused a priest of trying to sexually abuse her.
TK Devasia
A few months ago, Pope Francis appointed a British victim of sex abuse by Catholic priests to a special commission established to advise the Vatican on child protection policies. He warned that the Church would face “big trouble” if it failed to take concrete measures to bring to justice those priests who are accused of molestation and rape. Despite that, no lessons were learned.
The Syro Malabar Church, the most powerful of the three Catholic rites in Kerala, has been embroiled in a scandal, with a nun alleging that a priest tried to sexually abuse her. But instead of taking action against the accused priest, the Church has turned the nun out.
The 40-year-old nun, Anitha, had complained of unwanted sexual advances by the priest while she worked as a teacher at the Providence Convent High School at Pachore in Madhya Pradesh in 2011. The convent authorities denied the allegation and transferred her to Italy.
Forced out of convent
When she returned in February this year, Anitha was denied entry into her parent convent at Thottakkattukara near Aluva in Ernakulam district. Her luggage was thrown out and she was asked to leave the convent. Luckily, locals took her to Janaseva Sisubhavan, an orphanage at Aluva.
The St. Agata Congregation – to which Anitha belonged – asked her to give up the nun’s robes, but Anitha refused. She asked the authorities to state the reason for her expulsion or compensate her for the service she rendered to the Church.
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