CRI slams Church treatment of nuns

(March 04, 2010) 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, and the bishops must involve more women Religious in diocesan structures, as stipulated in the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, he added. 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. 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. 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.