A large gathering of priests and nuns from various church congregations on Friday defended the monastic life that had given society much good.
Inaugurating the gathering, Abraham Mathew, former judge, said the Church had the strength to overcome the challenges that had brought the spiritual life of priests and nuns under a cloud in recent times.
Such challenges had been thrown at the Church in many instances in the past, he said. The contribution of the Church towards building an ethical and value-based society in Kerala could not be dismissed.
The gathering was organised by Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference and laity of the Kerala Catholic Church to highlight the positive values of consecrated religious life in the wake of the recent media trials and bad press for the Church.
Representatives of various congregations under the dioceses of Ernakulam Angamaly, Varapuzha, Cochin, Kottapuram and Muvattupuzha dioceses defended the Church.
In his keynote address, Fr. Mathew Chandrankunnel said that those who had left the life of renunciation should not be speaking about it, rather, it should be by those who were continuing their monastic life.
Accusations
Speakers at the meeting referred indirectly to the accusations levelled at the clergy by Sr. Lucy Kalappura, who was served a dismissal order by the Fransiscan Clarist Congregation.
Bishop of Cochin, Joseph Kariyil urged nuns and priests to consider the present as a “time of suffering”. “Just consider it as an eclipse. The time when religious life will display itself in its full brightness is not far. Let us all move together for it,” he said.
Sr. Jaya of the Congregation of Teresian Carmelites, Sr. Vineetha of th Congregation of the Mother of Carmel, Shaji George, and Deputy Secretary-General of KCBC and Fr. Varghese Vallikkatt spoke at the event.
