The Sisters in Solidarity, a national forum of Catholic women in India, on February 6 demanded “absolute transparency and accountability” in the way the Church handles sex abuse cases.
The group, comprising religious and lay women, stresses revising canon law and the “theology of priesthood” to cleanse the Church of “elements that breed clericalism, which is an enabler of clerical sexual abuse.”
Such steps would prevent the recurrence of sexual harassment, abuse and abuse in the Church, asserts the solidarity in a letter sent to the Church hierarchy in the Vatican and India. The letter is written in the backdrop of the acquittal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar in the historic nun rape and the continued victimization of the accuser and her supporters.
The letter, signed by 15 women and endorsed by 1,263 men and women from around the world, expresses their deep concern and shock at the judgement and the court casting “aspersions on the character of the Sister survivor.”
Judge G Gopakumar of the Additional Sessions Court in Kerala’s Kottayam town on January 14 acquitted Bishop Mulakkal saying the prosecution had failed to prove the prelate’s guilt.
The accuser, a former superior general of the Missionaries of Jesus, a congregation under the diocese of Jalandhar, in June 2018 filed a police complaint alleging the bishop had sexually abused her multiple times between 2014 and 2016.
The group urges the Church authorities to keep Bishop Mulakkal away from any administrative responsibilities and spiritual leadership until the case is decided in appellate courts.
The defence lawyers in the case and groups such as the Save Our Sisters plan to appeal against the verdict in the Kerala High Court within two months’ time given by the trial court.
The group also also want the Church to keep Bishop Mulakkal away from Jalandhar lest he uses his “powerful influence to intimidate the sister survivor and her companions.”
All this will uphold the integrity and credibility of the Catholic Church, the women assert. They regret that the judgement over-looked that the bishop was “within a fiduciary relationship of power and authority over the victim as the patron of her congregation.”
The group says the judgment does not take into account the accuser’s “multiple vulnerabilities as a religious nun .Minor discrepancies in her statement are relied upon to project the survivor as a manipulator and a power hungry person who has filed a false complaint only to tarnish the image of the bishop at the instigation of his rivals.” Thereare are 1263 signitaries.