Call to bring in Church Act'

Kozhikode: The nuns face extreme persecution if found in an illicit relationship. If it is with a priest or bishop, then also they have to suffer in silence while the other will go scot free.

Listing some examples, the Catholic Laymen’s Association is batting for “Church Act” to bring them under the law of the land.

A nun should live under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. So ‘obedience’ is essential which authorities use to silence the dissent.

“Nuns joining a congregation leave their past and family back and take a new name and identity,” says CLA secretary M.L. George.

“They sacrifice the self for the world. So all believers have to ensure the safety of the nuns as they are sisters of entire humanity.”

He believes the ‘Jalandhar bishop episode’ is just one instance how the women are victimised, haunted and suppressed inside the monasteries.

"Bodies of those who protest appear in wells and ponds of convents. Not only the church but their family also keeps them out as an untouchable," he said.

"She is orphaned exposing her to more sexual exploitations within the church.  She has no other go but to end life or continue as a sinner.”

CLA is surveying such mysterious deaths. In one instance, the body of Sr Jyothis surfaced in the well of a convent at Kallurutty.

Another nun's body was in the well of a convent at Marakavu near Pulpally, and she was pregnant.

The CLA will submit its findings to the chief minister demanding an investigation into all such deaths.