On Wednesday, the Kerala High Court ordered Sister Lucy to leave the Franciscan Clarist Convent at Karakkamala, saying it will only provide her protection outside of the convent grounds. Sister Lucy pleaded with the court not to force her to leave the convent since she had been a nun there for decades. According to the Kerala High Court, Sister Lucy will be granted ‘protection to life’ whenever she chooses to stay, but only outside the convent.
As George Joseph of the Catholic Reform Movement explained to Republic TV, ‘She has been denied justice because when the congregation assigns nuns to convents, they sign agreements that they will keep them until their deaths. How can they throw them out in their middle age?’
It had been reported earlier in the day that no lawyer was available to represent Sister Lucy before the Kerala High Court, so she decided to represent herself. Sister Lucy’s lawyer relinquished the Vakalatnama, as reported, and this was confirmed by her. She stated that after the last hearing day, her lawyer informed her that since the order had been passed, he would not take the Vakalatnama.
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‘Honestly, I have thought of giving up this fight many times due to these events and because of my congregation. It seems like I am becoming their enemy. It’s too difficult for me, and I am sometimes depressed as well,’ said Sister Lucy. Her appeal against her congregation’s decision to strip her of sisterhood after her protest against rape-accused ex-Bishop Franco Mulakkal was rejected by the Apostolica Signatura earlier in June. Sister Lucy was fired and made to vacate the premises in August 2019 for seeking justice for the victim and participating in the protest in September 2018.
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