Hundreds of men and women belong to various Catholic religious congregations have come to the streets of Kannur, a major city in Kerala, to protest what they said were biased media reports that tarnish their image.

“Do not belittle the life we have accepted with joy and pride. Religious life is not a matter of pain and distress,” the protesters said at the September 4 rally held outside the local office of the Mathrubhumi (mother-land), a Malayalam newspaper.

Most speakers were heads of several religious congregations for women.

Sister Emestina, superior general of the Dina Sevana Sabha (DSS, Servants of the Poor), deplored attempts by certain section of the media to use isolated incidents as an excuse to despise Catholic asceticism and portray priests and nuns in a derogatory manner. “We serve society with a smiling face forgetting our pain and sorrows. The face of Catholic religious life is contentment,” she asserted.

The DSS leader said Catholic religious men and women serve society with courage whatever the difficulties. “Our religious life is based on our love for God and it will not be affected how-ever much, some try to belittle it,” she added. Sister Mary Noble of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation termed media reports as deliberate attacks on Catholic religious life and urged their detractors not to force priests and nuns to come to the streets again. “We have organized this protest as a last resort as we have no other option left. We feel pity for those attacking us. They should undertake an unbiased study of what is happening around them to know how we live and what we do,” Sister Noble said.