Catholic clergy gun for women's panel

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Women's Commission's request to the state government to fix the age when a girl would be entitled to decide on becoming a nun has not gone down well with Catholic Christian clergy in the state.

A section of the Christian community is, however, not hiding its appreciation of the panel's suggestion.

The debate about the age at which a girl could arrive at a mature decision on taking up the vows of nunhood was kicked off when state women's commission chairperson D. Sreedevi and member P.K. Sainaba revealed on Tuesday that the panel had urged the government to fix the age at which a girl could become a nun so that minors would not be forcibly enrolled as nuns.

Rehabilitation options

The commission also recommended rehabilitation of women who opted out of the vocation later in life and called for legislative provisions to ensure that the share of family wealth of girls who became nuns remained in their names.

The commission's interest in the matter has not gone down well with the clergy in the state.

Major archbishop Baselius Mar Cleemis of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church said the panel had acted in a "thoughtless" manner that belied "far-reaching implications" of its action.

He said the commission appeared to have made the recommendation without studying the issue in detail, and pointed out that the canon law of the church insisted that no person could become a priest or nun without attaining 18 years of age.

Many other leading Catholic clergymen also joined in the chorus of protest against the panel member's remarks. They included archbishops of Changanacherry, Thalassery and Palai.

Human rights issue

However, dissenting notes were heard from within the community. Joseph Pulikunnel, who has been campaigning for reforms in the Catholic Church, termed the commission recommendation a "landmark".

He said there were cases of girls below 18 years, especially from poor families, who had been forced to join convents, and other instances of nuns who left convents after some years failing to get back family assets on their return from the convent. He chose to describe the commission's recommendations as human rights issues and not religious ones.

An executive committee member of the Catholic Action Council group, Anto Kokkattu, also pointed out cases of families of nuns denying them support in times of need.

State women's panel members say they are only seeking measures to prevent the forcible enrolment of minors as nuns.