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Row over Indian nuns applying for state pensions

Convent superior said local media 'misreported' that the elderly nuns faced hardship due to financial constraints
Row over Indian nuns applying for state pensions

Catholic nuns participate in an Easter procession in India in this file photo. Some nuns in Kerala have applied for state pension meant for economically poor and unmarried women, hitting headlines. (Photo by IANS)

Published: April 17, 2017 06:30 AM GMT
Updated: April 17, 2017 06:37 AM GMT

Ten elderly Catholic nuns applied for a state pension in the Indian state of Kerala leading to accusations that the church is not supporting them adequately.

The nuns all applied for a monthly pension of 1,100 rupees (US$16) available to elderly unmarried women in Kerala state. They belong to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne of Trichy based in the Trivandrum Latin-rite Archdiocese and are from St. Anne's convent there. The nuns are all aged over 60 years, said the convent superior, who did not want to reveal her name.

Local media reported that their application revealed a neglect of elderly nuns in convents.

A report in Times of India quoted Sister Agnes, 63, one of the applicants, as saying that they had no money to even buy medicine. However, the convent superior told ucanews.com that the media misreported.

"They applied for the pension as they felt they had a right to it since they were unmarried. They approached the government to establish their right as citizens and not because they had any financial problems," the superior said.

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Welfare Committee Chairperson Geetha Gopal said she referred the nuns' pension application to the finance ministry as "normal pensions" are not available to religious people. 

Father Eugene Pereira, the Trivandrum Archdiocesan vicar general, said the nuns were misguided. The pension was meant for aged women without any support system or remained unmarried because of financial poverty.

"Nuns cannot be put in that category since they have chosen a celibate life on religious grounds. They have made their choice according to their commitment and they cannot now seek benefits set aside for vulnerable women," he said.

The priest said the nuns did not face financial hardship. "If they had approached the diocese before approaching the state government we could have guided them properly," he said. 

The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne of Trichy was founded in 1880 in India to work among the poor, weak, marginalized and destitute young women, particularly widows, in a social system that neglected and socially mistreated widows and destitute women. It is now an international congregation with more than 1,000 nuns.

Meanwhile, a forum of former priests and nuns said the care given to elderly nuns was, in fact, inadequate. "The convents use the nuns as long as they are healthy and then they are discarded once they become old and lose their health," Reji Njallani, forum chairperson, told ucanews.com

"[Our forum] is ready to help them if the church admits their inability to take care of elderly nuns and priests," he said.

The state welfare scheme, introduced in 2004, currently provides for some 71,500 women in Kerala.

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