Matters India

A Catholic nun's first home visit after her religious profession has ended in a tragedy in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

A group of Catholic women in India has expressed distress about Bishop Franco Mulakkal visiting Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Sister Mary Joseph, the newly elected superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, says her global congregation will continue its original mission of serving the poorest of the poor despite numerous hurdles. She is the first Indian to hold the office of superior general.

A Catholic nun from India serving the war-hit people of Ukraine says hungry and frustrated Russian soldiers now invade Ukrainian homes, loot food and rape women.

A national forum of Catholic women in India demanded "absolute transparency and accountability" in the way the church handles sex abuse cases, via a letter sent to the church hierarchy in the Vatican and India.

After Bishop Franco Mulakkal's acquittal, Sr. Mary Nirmalini tells Cardinal Oswald Gracias that church authorities should, "at least now, try and reach out to the survivor and her companions and offer support to them."

A letter signed by 89 Catholic women, including women religious, asks the Conference for the Religious in India to look into a suicides by Catholic sisters, the most recent on Nov. 30 by 30-year-old nun in the chapel of her convent in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

The Kerala High Court on Sept. 18 gave special permission to Sr. Jofi Joseph and other members of a farmers group after they complained about the menace from the boars.

"This is for your own safety," the judge told Lucy Kalappura. "You have made serious allegations against the vicar. You have admitted yourself that you are subjected to ill-treatment ... It is better to move out."

Sr. Lucy Kalappura says she will not vacate the Franciscan Clarist Congregation's convent in the Wayanad district of Kerala until the Indian court has heard her case.

The Kerala High Court July 7 rejected deposed Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal's plea to quash the charge against him of sexually assaulting a nun. He will face trial July 13 in the town of Kottayam.

Since March 25, the 21-day lockdown, a response to the coronavirus pandemic, has severely restricted the movements and activities of nuns of various congregations, and their more than 1.37 billion countrymen.

In a letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the group of Catholic women in India assert that the rape-accused Bishop Mulakkal's presence at the bishop's house in Jalandhar threatens the case's fair trial.