Father Michael Pulickal of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council says the perceived increase in defamatory comments has seen priests and nuns lodge over 160 police complaints.

All the complaints have been against certain Kerala online, mainstream and social media platforms for portraying Catholic priests and nuns in a poor light.

Catholic religious men and women (pictured going about their work in Kerala) are no longer going to be mere spectators to the deliberate attempts to denigrate their image before the public by publishing lies, half-truths and misleading facts, he says.

However, Pulickal says in some cases Kerala police are refusing to register nuns' and priests' complaints.

The bishops' council and other church bodies will "not succumb to pressure" and intend to continue their campaign for legal action against media until we get justice, he says.

As the government won't take disciplinary action against media making defamatory comments, Pulickal says a plan of action has been decided.

This involves nuns and priests lodging as many complaints as possible until the authorities initiate action against those trying to destroy Catholic religious life.

Among the objectionable posts Pulickal mentions are those posted by photographer Yaami on social media.

Her pictures of women in Catholic nuns' religious habits went viral. Asianet, a local news portal, quoted the Yaami saying:

"Two young women in nuns' clothes hug warmly, walk together hand in hand, and laugh together. The issue is how people look at these photographs".

Church officials complained the photos portrayed Catholic nuns as lesbians.

"We cannot tolerate this anymore. We want the government to act against those tarnishing our image as priests and nuns" Pulickal says.

Yaami has responded to his complaint, saying women do not cease to be women just because they live inside a nunnery.

She also noted she did not mean to denigrate Catholic religion or its systems.

"People looked at their clothes [habit], but I looked at the funny side of it" she says.

At the same time, Yaami asserts her right to take photographs according to her creative urges.

Source

• UCA News
  
• Image: Archdiocese of St Louis

This is the first time women have been appointed to these Vatican departments.

The women will also, for the first time, be able to have a say over the direction of a Vatican department with a remit that includes the life of religious sisters.

Six of those appointed to the Vatican boards are the superiors general of religious orders. The seventh is from a lay background.

The appointees are:

• Kathleen Appler - Daughters of Charity
• Yvonne Reungoat - Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters)
• Françoise Massy - Franciscan Missionaries of Mary
• Luigia Coccia - Comboni Missionary Sisters
• Simona Brambilla - Consolata Missionary Sisters
• M. Rita Calvo Sanz - Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady
• Olga Krizova - general president of the Don Bosco Secular Volunteer Institute

The women's appointments to executive posts in the Vatican Curia follow other surprise appointments Francis announced recently.

In May he appointed the first women consultors to the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops which, under his pontificate, has become a crucial vehicle for setting the Church's pastoral agenda.

A month earlier, in an historic decision, he appointed three women as consultants to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This was reported as being part of his ongoing effort to give a greater role to women in the work of the Roman Curia offices, the central administration of the Catholic church.

The latest appointments, however, give the women executive rather than solely consultative roles.

Other appointments to the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are:

• Brother Robert I. Schieler, superior of the De La Salle Christian Brothers
• Priests who are superiors general of the Jesuits, the Discalced Carmelites, the Augustinians, the Scalabrinians, the Capuchins and the abbot president of the Subiaco Cassinese Benedictine Congregation
• Five bishops and four cardinals: Cardinals Angelo De Donatis, papal vicar for Rome; Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life; Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid, Spain.

While the soon-to-be-replaced 1988 apostolic constitution regulating the Roman Curia says the ordinary members of a congregation are cardinals and bishops, it also says "according to the specific nature of certain dicasteries:

"... clerics and other faithful can be added to the body of cardinals and bishops."

Source

• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• America Magazine
• Image: Richmond Free Press

There is a possibility that she will be deported as an "undesirable alien".

Sister Patricia Fox, Philippine superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, was arrested at her convent in Quezon City on April 16.

Authorities have accused Fox, who has worked in rural communities for 27 years, of being an "undesirable alien" because she took part in protest rallies and visited political prisoners.

Although the prosecutor in charge "found no probable cause" for her arrest and ordered the Australian nun to be released for further investigation, immigration officials insisted on her detention.

They said Fox failed to surrender her passport to the bureau. She said her documents were with a travel agency.

The bureau subsequently released her after her lawyers submitted her passport and other immigration documents showing she had a valid missionary visa.

Fox's counsel, Jobert Pahilga, said she would still have to sit through a preliminary investigation because a formal complaint has been filed by the authorities.

"Our next step is how to get the case dismissed because she's not an undesirable alien.

"Her work is very much desired by farmers and indigenous peoples," said the lawyer.

Evidence presented by authorities include pictures of her taken during a jail visit in the southern Philippines with a banner that reads "Stop Killing Farmers."

She also joined a recent fact-finding and solidarity mission that investigated alleged human rights abuses committed against farmers and tribal people in the southern Philippines.

Fox told ucanews.com that part of her missionary work is "to immerse with the poorest of the poor in any event."

"Our mission includes listening to the narratives of people especially poor farmers and indigenous people," she said. "We go to places where we find them."

Source

• ucanews.com
• ucanews.com
• channelnewsasia.com
• Image: ucanews.com

They go on stage wearing traditional black-and-white habits

The Sisters, who come from eight countries and range in age from 20s to 40s, insist they aren't rock stars. But they certainly act the part when on stage performing. Read more

Sister Margaret Ann, wearing her nun's habit, was caught on camera using the heavy equipment to help clear a tree toppled by the ferocious storm. Continue reading

He has described the nuns who venture into the worst areas of the country as incredibly and inspiringly courageous.

Lippert says they are putting their lives at risk in a desperate bid to reach those in need of help.

"They go right to the midst of where it is happening."

"They have been threatened, pushed, stoned and in one case burned."

"They have been accused of being witches."

"They are not always successful the first time, but they do not give up until they take the victim into their care."

According to Lippert "most, but not all, victims are women with no one to stand up for them."

"Women here (in the Highlands) are still in many ways, second class citizens," he said. "They make easy targets."

Luckily, so far the nuns have survived the attacks, and the bishop adds they and local helpers are not deterred from returning to help.

One problem, according to Lippert and many activists, is that the law is not enforced and the government does not push the police to act.

"Changing beliefs can take a long time. However, society has the duty of protecting the vulnerable and must hold accountable those who perpetrate violence against them. Right now people do these things with impunity," he said.

"It is a very complex issue involving all of the following - in varying degrees - fear, resentment, jealousy, marijuana, greed, culture, clash of cultures, diabolical evil, and more."

He added the complexity made it difficult, but not impossible to combat.

Source

• asopa.typepad.com
• Image: asopa.typepad.com

In fact, according to Pew Research Centre data the numbers of religious in America has declined dramatically since the 1960's.

However, they are on the increase again in some places such as the United Kingdom, with the most attractive institutes interestingly being the more traditional orders, such as those who follow traditional prayer routines and still wear habits.

This week The Wall Street Journal published insights into the life of 30 year old Sister Bethany Madonna together with seven other Sisters of Life also in their 30s.

Based in New York, the Sisters of Life is a reasonably new order established in 1991 by New York Cardinal John O'Connor. Since then, it has thrived.

The impetus for the order came when Cardinal O'Connor visited Dachau, the site of a Nazi death camp. It moved him to start a religious community of women with a fourth vow to protect the sacredness of every human life, in addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Canonically speaking, they are sisters and not nuns, working in the community as they do, rather than living a contemplative life, though they do spend at least four hours in prayer every day.

Earlier this year, the New York Post expressed concern at the city's declining birth rate and the plight of New York families. A significant number of births are from the city's poorest neighborhoods — nearly 6 in 10 moms were on Medicaid or government-financed health insurance for the needy:

The city's birth rate is the lowest since 1936 — having steadily declined over the past decade, according to data obtained by The Post.

"This is a very troubling trend," said Conservative Party state chairman Mike Long. "The economy is hurting families and the development of families … If we don't produce enough young people, society won't be able to pay for Social Security and Medicaid," he warned. Continue reading

Sources

• MercatorNet article written by Shannon Roberts
• Image: Women Speak for Themselves

For those who don't know, the Republic of Kiribati is a remote island nation straddling the equator in the Pacific Ocean.

It's also where a small group of Good Samaritan Sisters have been ministering since 1991. I was there to witness the perpetual profession of Kakare Biita as a Sister of the Good Samaritan. She is the second I-Kiribati woman to do so.

Kakare's profession ceremony was held in Abaokoro, a village in North Tarawa where one of our Good Samaritan communities is based.

The other is in Temaiku, South Tarawa, a more densely populated area. Getting to Abaokoro isn't a straightforward journey.

After crossing the Tarawa lagoon by boat, in the equatorial heat we walked up the 200-metre gravel pathway to the sisters' community house.

As I walked up that pathway, lined with over 2,000 small stones packed closely together, I was struck by the importance and power of storytelling.

Patricia Comerford, one of our Australian sisters who lived in Kiribati, slowly and painstakingly, in the hot, humid conditions of Kiribati, built this pathway, lining it with local stones and plants.

The story of her patience and fidelity to the community she loves, as well as her love of the earth, continues to be told and retold among the I-Kiribati sisters, who now live out their own story at Abaokoro. Continue reading.

Clare Condon, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict, is the recipient of the 2013 Human Rights Medal.

Source: The Good Oil

Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan

Forcades — a Benedictine nun, activist, feminist theologian and physician from Catalonia in Spain — and Francis — a Jesuit pope from Argentina — share a kindred vision of empowering the poor through nonviolence.

Both understand the relationship between capitalism and poverty.

Francis has denounced the "idolatry of money" and implored world leaders to assure all people "dignified work, education and healthcare."

In a way, Forcades takes it further by advocating that the state must be challenged from the bottom up. The people must be the agents of change.

"When I talk about church, we talk about how the Gospel inspired us. There are many kinds of church, and I identify with the people at the bottom, at the base.

"Many people have a hope that the Catholic church might change because of the pope, but if you look at history, change comes from bottom up, not from top down," Forcades said to a room overflowing with "local radical activists" Continue reading.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Image: psalmboxkey.com

It's still a good strong read, and even more fascinating when you know the story behind it. It is a novel, but based on the life of the author's long-term companion, a former nun.

As the film Philomena heads into awards season, draped with nominations for Oscars and Baftas, you might think nuns are having a bad PR moment.

But then over at Team Convent, Call the Midwife is the star of BBC TV's Sunday nights with a much more sympathetic crew.

Both these are fictionalised versions of real stories, and they are just the tip of the iceberg: there are large numbers of nuns in books - surely higher than their incidence in the real-life population. Continue reading.

Source: Guardian Books

Image: rareaudreyhepuburn

The medal was given to Sister Felix primarily for the work she did in the Wellington soup kitchen which was then in Buckle St.

For more than 12 years she cooked breakfast and dinner every day, visiting sick, elderly, and lonely people in the community in between meals.

She was attacked by a drug addict at age 84, was back at work the next day to cook for the masses, and knows how to make tripe edible.

At Upper Hutt's Home of Compassion yesterday, Sister Felix was mortified that one-time fellow soup kitchen worker Eddie Mollier had nominated her for a New Zealand Local Hero medal.

"I'd like to wring his neck," she said with a chuckle, eyes twinkling. "He thought the sun and the stars shone out of me - I was his pin-up girl," said Sister Felix.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Hutt News