Former Franciscan Clarist Congregation Sister Regina has told a Kerala Catholic Federation symposium that a “soul-sapping” lack of freedom was the reason that she left her convent at Irinjalakuda ten years ago. The symposium addressed the subject of problems faced by nuns, Express Buzz reports.
Regina says the primary reason for leaving was the vow of obedience that she had taken when she became a nun.
“The superiors demanded blind loyalty,” she says. “They felt that they had been appointed by God and had to be obeyed all the time. This lack of freedom was soul-sapping.”
Regina says that the superiors failed to respect a person’s individuality and feelings and did not encourage the development of God-given talents.
After 20 years as a nun, she could not take it any more. She got permission from the authorities and walked out in 1999. And, like in the case of Sr Jesme, Regina’s family, the Valiyaveetil from Thrissur, tried to dissuade her.
“They said that if I had any difficulty I should resolve it through a discussion with my superiors, ” she says. “But I tried that for so many years and it did not work.”
Thankfully, because she was a professor of history at St Aloysius College, Thrissur, she had a good salary.
With that she was able to rent a house near the college campus.
Incidentally, Regina holds a doctorate on ‘The origin and development of Kerala Catholics’.
\V K Joy, the general secretary of the federation, says that Regina was asked by the audience whether she faced any sexual harassment from priests and nuns, like those faced by Sr Jesme. “I did not experience anything like that,” she says.
“In fact, I have not come across anybody who was sexually harassed.”
However, Regina says, she admired the courage shown by Sr Jesme. “It was good that Sr Jesme spoke out,” she says. “I support what she has done.”
Asked why she decided to speak out after so many years, Regina says, “People have asked me to talk about it only now. I want the Church to reform itself.
I don’t want the nuns to leave the convents. Instead, the conditions inside should improve.” But there has already been a negative fall-out.
“Fewer girls are opting to become a nun these days,” says Regina.
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SIC: CTHAS