A stinging editorial in a magazine, that comes out of the stable of the Catholic Church in India, throws sharp focus on the exploitation and harassment of nuns inside convents. The editorial, written by Dr Suresh Mathew in ‘Indian Currents’, an English weekly published from Delhi by a society under the patronage of the Capuchins of Krist Jyoti Province of North India, talks at length about the violation of basic rights of nuns whose contributions to the Church are not small. “In India, nuns in many congregations are not allowed to use mobile phones or personal e-mail to be in touch with their near and dear ones. There are allegations of discrimination between earning and non-earning members within the same congregation,” the editorial reads.
“In many cases, when nuns suffer at the hands of church hierarchy, their superiors do not stand up with the suffering souls because they do not want to displease priests or bishops. Hence, the victims are not willing to come out in the open to report the abuse. Moreover, they are apprehensive that they won’t be believed if they complain against their own superiors, priests or bishops as they are well aware of the power of the authority to ‘strangulate truth’. The fears of the nuns have been proved right to some extent in the ongoing Jalandhar episode wherein efforts are on at various levels to paint the ‘victims’ black,” the editorial reads.

A stinging editorial in a magazine, that comes out of the stable of the Catholic Church in India, throws sharp focus on the exploitation and harassment of nuns inside convents. The editorial, written by Dr Suresh Mathew in ‘Indian Currents’, an English weekly published from Delhi by a society under the patronage of the Capuchins of Krist Jyoti Province of North India, talks at length about the violation of basic rights of nuns whose contributions to the Church are not small. “In India, nuns in many congregations are not allowed to use mobile phones or personal e-mail to be in touch with their near and dear ones. There are allegations of discrimination between earning and non-earning members within the same congregation,” the editorial reads.
“In many cases, when nuns suffer at the hands of church hierarchy, their superiors do not stand up with the suffering souls because they do not want to displease priests or bishops. Hence, the victims are not willing to come out in the open to report the abuse. Moreover, they are apprehensive that they won’t be believed if they complain against their own superiors, priests or bishops as they are well aware of the power of the authority to ‘strangulate truth’. The fears of the nuns have been proved right to some extent in the ongoing Jalandhar episode wherein efforts are on at various levels to paint the ‘victims’ black,” the editorial reads.