Kerala court stays expulsion of Sister Lucy Kalappura till 1 Jan; nun was dismissed for joining protest against rape-accused Franco Mulakkal

Wayanad: In a temporary relief to a Kerala nun who was expelled by her congregation for disobeying the law of the church, a court  has granted an injunction on her expulsion from her convent till 1 January. Sister Lucy Kalappura was expelled on 7 August by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) for ‘failing to give a  satisfactory explanation’ for her lifestyle “in violation of rules. [caption id=“attachment_5873451” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Sister Lucy. Facebook/Lucykalapura Fcc[/caption] Sister Kalappura had published poems, purchased a car and taken part in a street protest by five nuns of the Catholic religious order Missionaries of Jesus, against a former bishop of Jalandhar dioecese, a rape accused. A Munsiff court in Mananthawadi, which heard the petition by the nun yesterday, granted temporary injunction to the dismissal till 1 January. “Sister had moved the court over her expulsion from the FCC. The move was without even hearing her side. The court had yesterday said it will hear the matter on 1 January,” a relative of the nun told PTI. The congregation, under the Roman Catholic Church, had said she was issued “proper canonical warnings”, but did not show the needed remorse. In its 5 August letter to her, head of the Aluva-based congregation, Ann Joseph said, “you are hereby dismissed from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation as you failed to give a satisfactory explanation for your lifestyle in violation of the proper law of the FCC”. The “unanimous decision” to dismiss the nun was taken at the congregation’s General Council on 11 May. This was sent to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Vatican through the Nuntiature in New Delhi. On 5 August, the congregation received the communication from the “Apostolic See” that the dismissal decree had got the needed confirmation. In its notice to the nun early in January, the congregation had termed as “grave violations”, Sister Lucy having a driving licence, buying a car, taking a loan for it and publishing a book and spending money without the permission and knowledge of her superiors. Sister Lucy Kalappura had dismissed some 14 charges levelled against her by the congregation, saying many of them were a “deliberate attempt” to paint her in “bad light”. The congregation had also alleged the nun violated FCC’s dress code in public without any permission” and “caused grave external scandal and harm to the Church” by participating in the protest by ‘Save Our Sisters Action Council’ on 20 September, 2018, at Kochi, seeking the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal. It had described her actions as “improper behaviour in religious life and violations of religious discipline.”