A High Court in Nepal on November 18 granted bail to two Catholic nuns and two volunteers from South Korea, who were arrested for “illegal conversion” in Nepal slums.
“Thank God for praying for Korean Sisters and volunteers. They got bail finally, thank you all for praying,” says a note from Father Silas Bogati, the vicar general of Nepal, posted on the “Couples for Christ – Nepal” WhatsApp group.
Sisters Gemma Lucia Kim and Martha Park Byongsuk, members of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres Congregation, and two volunteers wee arrested September 14 after being accused of converting Hindus by coercion and allurement. The Koreans were kept in a jail at Pokhara, the nuns’ base in Nepal some 200 km northwest of Kathmandu, the national capital.
The High Court granted the bail after the district court in Pokhara rejected the nuns’ application. The bail was given at around 4 pm (local time). The nuns are expected to be released November 19 after the bail is paid and formalities are done at the lower court, a source in Kathmandu told Matters India.
The nuns will have to appear for hearing in case at the lower district court at a given date.
Nepal’s Catholic Church, which has been praying for the nuns and their companions, was relieved and happy, the source added.
The two nuns have been managing “St. Paul’s Happy Home,” a center in Pokhara that provides accommodation, food, education, medical services and skills training to about 120 slum children at Bus-Park. The home is named St. Paul’s in honor of their congregation’s patron.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the nuns distributed food rations to the poor, but some people accused them of alluring them to become Catholics by giving low-quality food.
Bishop Paul Simick, the Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, has told Aid to the Church in Need that the nuns’ arrest and denial of bail has shocked the Nepalese Catholic community. The allegations against the nuns “are utterly baseless and unjust,” he asserted.
The prelate clarified that Catholics do not indulge in forceful conversion and “the Korean sisters are known for doing exclusively social work.”