An ecumenical women’s forum says the inclusion of women for the feet washing ritual will help the Indian Church offer a healing touching amid clergy abuse cases.
A symbolic representation of “inclusion liturgy” celebrated in parishes and Mass centres across India “will have a healing effect especially in the light of the recent instances of the scandal of sexual abuse in the Church,” asserts the Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM).
The movement comprising members from all Christian denominations has expressed dismay over the decision of India’s Oriental Catholic Churches to keep women out of on Holy Thursday.
Emulate Pope Francis and make the Church inclusive, the movement urged Catholic bishops of all three Catholic rites in India through a letter dated March 31.
The moment hailed Pope Francis’ initiative to include “all people of God” in the ceremony of the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday as one of the most encouraging signs of inclusiveness and equality in the Church.
The letter was drafted after the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches, the Oriental Catholic rites in India, decided to stick to their tradition of washing the feet of only men or boys on Holy Thursday. The ritual that falls on April 13 this year commemorates Jesus washing the feet of His disciples during the Last Supper.
The women’s movement says including women for the ritual will help the Church present a different face. At least three Catholic priests were arrested in the past year for sexually abusing minors in Kerala, where the two Oriental rites are based.
