In a letter to Giambattista Diquattro, Vatican's Apostolic Nuncio, the nun alleged that the priests from her parish, under which her convent comes, stopped coming for holy mass in the community where there are more than twenty inmates, including senior citizens.
“Ever since we filed this case we remain cut off from the mainstream of the church and society. We experience neglect from every side. We feel the Catholic church is only concerned about the bishops and priests. We would like to know if there is any provision in the Canon Law for justice for nuns and women. If then, why is the church so partial towards us?" she asks.
In the letter, she also says that the priests and sisters in many places count her and other nuns in the convent as the enemy of Catholic church. The silence on the part of the church is causing her further humiliation as well as character assassination, she says.
She adds that she is concerned that the priests and bishops are allowed to spend nights in convents even when they have other facilities like parish houses, pastoral centres, and the like.
Nun rape case: No one is above law, says Kerala HC
No one is above the law and there is no need for any apprehension regarding it, the Kerala High Court said on Monday while hearing a petition seeking immediate arrest of Franco Mulakkal, bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, who is accused of raping a nun in Kerala
"Will the church authority be able to give back what I have lost? I feel the Catholic church is still doubting my truth over the argument as to why I allowed him to abuse me sexually ‘thirteen times’. I had tremendous fear and shame to bring this out into the open. I feared suppression of the congregation and threats to my family members. At the same time I wonder why the church is closing its eyes towards the truth when I have mustered courage to stop him," she says in the letter.
"Being a religious sister who is denied justice from the congregation authority and from the church authority of Latin and Syro Malabar Churches, once again I implore your mercy on my situation. I beg the church authorities to kindly make a speedy inquiry about this case and remove Bishop Franco from his responsibilities as the spiritual leader of the diocese," she continues.
In a first, Catholic nuns protest ‘sexploitation’
For the first time in the Catholic church’s history in Kerala, a group of nuns defied their vows to come out in protest against church authorities and police for attempts to hush up the alleged rape of a nun by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar. They protested on Saturday demanding Mulakkal’s immediate arrest.
In the proceedings of this case so far, it is clearly visible how Bishop Franco is trying to manipulate the investigation with wrong information and with his money, political power and support from other ecclesiastical authorities, she alleges.
"Though Bishop Franco had sexually abused me several times, I could not reveal to my Superior General or to her councillors the full story. I only told them repeatedly that Bishop is taking many disciplinary actions through them just because I resisted to lie down with him. As they failed to understand even the seriousness of these words, I could not tell them more than this," she says.
from Times of India https://ift.tt/2x2I2TX
