India: Frank views from the next generation

India’s first national convention for young Religious took place against a backdrop of unusually turbulent times for them.

Attended by around 200 young men and women, the July 9-12 meeting took place in the wake of a much publicized bus tour by a group of nuns in the United States. They were protesting over the Vatican crackdown on their leadership and raising public awareness of a range of social issues.

As a result of that media-savvy maneuver, nuns have hit the US headlines more than at any other time in their history.

They have been in the public eye in India too, with two former nuns releasing autobiographies which allege sexual abuse in convents.

But the participants at the convention in New Delhi seemed generally unconcerned by such developments.

 

 

Some of them claimed to be completely unaware of the American controversy. Some were reluctant to comment, as they feared their superiors’ wrath. But others were more forthright.

“The scandals surrounding the Church have not affected my desire to serve God and people,” said Sister J. Florice, a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Her words seemed to sum up the dedicated mood of many.

Commenting on the Indian nuns’ autobiographies, Sister Tessy Jacob  said: “what they wrote is their personal experience and should not be used as an excuse to discredit others. I would like people to treat each Religious individually and not be influenced by what one particular nun or a priest does.”

Sr. Jacob, a member of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, who works among tribal people in Orissa, added that “the perception that nuns are frustrated inside the convent is wrong.”

While she agreed that the Indian Church is patriarchal, she also said: “what the nuns want is equity, not equality.”

However, several nuns were more critical of the Indian Church’s current, male-dominated status, pointing out that women Religious are not included in major decision making.

These frankly aired views were “precisely the aim of the convention,” according to Brother Mani Mekkunnel, national secretary of the Conference of Religious, the program organizers.

“The meeting aimed to bring the young Religious out from the conventional boundaries of their congregations and face the realities of the world,” he said.

“There are more than 130,000 Religious in India and a quarter of them are in their thirties, so these are people who will be leading their congregations in the next decade. This convention, with its theme of leadership, hoped to bring out the best among these young men and women, to give them new ideas and a new approach to the consecrated life.”

One of the main aims of the gathering was also to encourage the use of new technology. To that end, the entire convention was paperless and the majority of the delegates came armed with their laptops.

But while some congregations seemed to be embracing change and adapting to it quickly, others seem intent on holding fast to their established customs and traditions.

One very apparent manifestation of this difference was the way the nuns dressed at the convention. Some came in “civilian” clothes while others felt more comfortable in habits.

Some nuns said they wore the traditional dress because people respect them. “But it’s not the dress that brings respect,” said one of the more progressive sisters, “it’s the way one interacts with people.”

 

 

Ritu Sharma, New Delhi - India
July 16, 2012

Source: ucanews.com