Sister Lucy was expelled from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation under the Catholic Church in August 2019 for participating in a protest with the nuns of the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation seeking Bishop Franco Mulakkal's arrest who has been accused of raping a nun.
Sister Lucy Kalappura of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation in Karackamala in Wayanad district of Kerala has decided to fight a solo battle against the Catholic Church.
She was expelled from the congregation in August 2019 after she participated in a protest with the nuns belonging to the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation seeking Bishop Franco Mulakkal's arrest, who has been accused of raping a nun.
The Catholic Church in the Vatican rejected her three appeals against the expulsion. The official reason given for her expulsion is her unsatisfactory lifestyle.
Franco Mullakal, a former bishop of Jalandhar, was accused of raping a nun in 2018. The 43-year-old nun complained to the police in Kottayam in Kerala that Mulakkal had raped her several times between 2014 and 2016.
Sister Lucy joined the congregation at the age of 17 and had continuously served the church for the last four decades.
“I know it will be a long-drawn legal battle. I will take the fight till the top court seeking to uphold my dignity as a nun and continue my stay at the Convent of the Congregation which I am part of for nearly 40 years. I have complete faith in our judiciary,” the PTI quoted Sister Lucy.
She has been going through unimaginable torture for the last two years.
“From denial of food and social exclusion inside the Convent to cyber bullying, life threat and fabricated stories outside…I have been facing these for the last few years since I have started questioning the unacceptable practices of the system.” She told the news agency PTI.
She said firmly that she would continue her fight, adding (in an interview to PTI), “Whatever they do, there is no going back from nun-hood. I will continue to live as a nun only. I embraced this life at the age of 17 not to give it up at some point.”
When the senior advocates in the Kerala High Court declined to take up her case, she decided to argue her case despite having very limited knowledge about legal jargon.
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