Many nuns are reduced to the status of domestic workers even in their own congregations due to the fixed mindset of Church leaders, a leading member of India’s Religious said.

Most have not been given skills training and education to deal with the demands of their work, Montfort Brother Mani Mekkunnel, national secretary of the Conference of Religious India (CRI), said.

In the worst cases, they are subjected to human rights violations and “that should worry all of us,” he told India’s bishops assembled at their plenary meeting in Guwahati, Assam.

Church leaders need to respect women’s dignity, appreciate their consecrated status and acknowledge their work by providing “decent remuneration,” Brother Mekkunnel said.

Church leaders must take the lead to allow women their proper places in the Church, otherwise “popular pressure” will build up and “break the Church leaders’ mindsets,” the brother told the bishops.

The CRI leader wants the bishops to involve more women Religious in diocesan structures, as stipulated in the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops.

Despite the shortcomings in treatment of women, there have been improvements since Church leaders began to take the issue seriously four years ago, Brother Mekkunnel said.

More awareness of discrimination against women

Religious men have become more aware of discrimination against women and more sympathetic to their plight. Bishops have also begun treating women better, the brother said.

But neither bishops nor male Religious have done much to change patriarchal values, structures and practices in the Church and society.

Even among women’s congregation, there is still “a long way to go in realizing tangible results,” he said.

Nuns form more than 80 percent of India’s more than 125,000 Religious.

Brother Mekkunnel went on to note that there had been some tensions between bishops and Religious despite generally “good relations” between the two groups over the past two years.

The Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops had urged prelates to respect the “rightful autonomy” of Religious, but its interpretation “has not been very positive always,” Brother Mekkunnel said.

There had been “misunderstanding and tension” when the two groups addressed issues beyond the directory’s guidelines, he said.

The Vatican document specifies rules for setting up a Religious house in a diocese, entrusting a congregation with different work than what was originally agreed and building public churches and schools.

The Indian bishops’ plenary, which began on Feb. 24 and ended today, was attended by 163 bishops from the country’s 164 dioceses.

Source: Brother slams Church treatment of nuns(UCAN)

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