Kozhikode: Laity plan list of nuns who were abused by priests

KOZHIKODE: The Catholic Laymen’s Association has come to the defence of Sr. Lucy who has been accused by the Church of defaming the nuns by allowing two journalists into the convent through the backdoor.

The CLA, a body of believers based here, said that many priests had defamed the Church by secretly entering the convents through the backdoor and sexually exploiting the nuns. Many nuns were murdered or had committed suicide. The CLA is conducting a survey across the state to collect the details of the victims.

According to CLA secretary M.L. George, Sr. Abhaya of Pius Tenth convent in Kottayam was a victim of the priests’ nocturnal visits. Two priests and a nun are still under a cloud, he said.

In another incident, the body of a pregnant nun was found in the well of a convent at Marakavu under the Mananthavadi diocese. Though the guilty priest is known to the Church, he is still active in the Church, Mr George pointed out.  

The body of Sr. Jyothis of Kallurutty convent under the Thamarassery diocese was found in the well of the convent on November 20, 1998. “Though there was injury in her vagina as per the postmortem report, the case was hushed up by the local police,” Mr George said. The priest concerned was just transferred, he said.

Another guilty priest was also transferred and the whereabouts of the nun, who gave birth to a child, are not known even to the kith and kin, he pointed out. The Crime Branch (Hurt and Homicide Wing) had submitted a report to the police headquarters seeking a detailed investigation supported by a scientific expert team into the suspicious death of Sr. Jyothis.

The CLA alleged that while those priests were spared, Sr. Lucy has been targeted by the superiors as she had appeared in public against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal.