The Franciscan Clarist Congregation under the Roman Catholic Church has expelled a nun for publishing poems, buying a car and taking part in a protest against a rape-accused former bishop of Jalandhar diocese.
In a letter issued to nun Lucy Kalappura, the head of the Aluva-based congregation, Ann Joseph, said she failed to give a satisfactory explanation for her “lifestyle in violation of the proper law” of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation. “You are hereby dismissed from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation,” Joseph said in the letter dated August 5.
It said she was given the required canonical warnings, but she did not show the needed remorse. The “unanimous decision” to dismiss Kalappura was taken at the general council of the congregation held on May 11.
In its notice issued to the nun early in January, the FCC had described as “grave violations” the nun possessing a driving licence, buying a car, taking a loan for it, publishing a book, spending money without the permission and knowledge of her superiors. The provincial superior had denied permission to Sister Lucy to publish her collection of poems.
The sister had invited the wrath of the church leadership by participating in a street protest against rape-accused Franco Mullakal in Wayanad last year, staged by five nuns belonging to the Catholic religious order.