கன்யாஸ்திரிகளுக்கு குறைந்த பட்ச வயது கோரிக்கைக்கு சர்ச் கடும் ஆட்சேபம்

18 வயதுக்கு குறைவான பெண்களை கன்யாஸ்திரிகளாக ஆக்கக்கூடாது என்று பெண்கள் கமிஷன் கோரிக்கை விடுத்திருந்தது.

இதற்கு சர்ச்சிலிருந்து கடும் ஆட்சேபம் வந்திருக்கிறது.

சர்ச்சில் 18 வயதான பெண்களைத்தான் கன்யாஸ்திரிகள் ஆக்குகிறோம் என்று சொல்லிக்கொண்டே ஆனால், அதில் அரசுதலையிடக்கூடாது என்று சர்ச் கூக்குரலிடுகிறது.

தற்போது ஏராளமான சிறுமிகள் இவ்வாறு கன்யாஸ்திரிகள் ஆக்கப்படுகிறார்கள். புரோக்கர்கள், பெற்றோர் இன்னும் பலர் இதில் உள் உடந்தை. இதனை சட்டப்பூர்வமாக தடுக்க வேண்டும் என்று கோரிக்கை பெண்கள் கமிஷனிலிருந்து வந்துள்ளது.

18 வயதான பெண்களைத்தான் கன்யாஸ்திரிகள் ஆக்க்குகிறார்கள் என்றால், சர்ச் ஏன் கூக்குரலிட வேண்டும். அவர்களே இதனை வரவேற்கலாமே?


Women’s panel suggests age bar for nuns; Church furiousPublished: Friday, 6 June, 2008, 01:10 AM Doha Time


By Ashraf Padanna

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A recommendation by Kerala’s Women’s Commission to fix the age bar for girls enrolling as nuns has evoked sharp reaction from the Church. But reformists have welcomed it.
“One has to attain 18 years of age to receive nunnery and the rule is strictly followed by the church. The commission seems to have some other agenda on its mind,” said Major Archbishop Catholicos Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis of Malankara Catholic Syrian Church, one of the influential Christian denominations here.
The women’s panel had asked the government to take legal measures to ensure that girls below 18 are not forcibly enrolled as nuns. But the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is yet to respond.
Commission chairperson D Sreedevi, a retired high court judge, and member P K Sainaba, a Muslim leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had also asked the government to bring in mechanisms to rehabilitee and protect women who opt out of the vocation.
“No girl should be compelled to become a nun, and there must be legislative provisions to ensure that the share of family wealth of the girls who became nuns remained in their name,” they told reporters here.
Acting on a petition, the commission also wanted the government to ensure that the right of choice is left to the girls themselves and that there should be a law against parents who force them to become nuns.
The church sees it as yet another politically motivated move against it. The church runs several educational institutions in Kerala and it was outraged at the LDF government’s measures aimed at controlling the institutions.
In a statement, Syro-Malabar Church, the largest group among the St Thomas Christians, said the recommendation had hurt the religious sentiments of Christians and that the commission should have made inquiries to know the truth before issuing such instructions.
“The church has well-laid rules for initiating a girl into the convent life. There are clear rules to the effect that only girls who had attained 18 years of age could become nuns,” it said.
“These recommendations are akin to finding fault with parents who wanted their girl children to have a good life. And nuns can have no right to property as all of them entered nun’s life after taking the poverty pledge.”
The church alleges that the commission reached certain conclusions without hearing its views. “The Canon Law, the rules followed by the Catholic Church universally, is very clear that before 18, you cannot take a Temporary Vow or the Perpetual Vow to become a nun,” Syro-Malabar Church spokesman Fr Paul Thelekkat said.

However, social workers say the panel’s observations were “methodologically wrong but factually correct” and a good majority of nuns in Kerala had been forced to convents because the families lack money to marry them off. In certain cases, greedy brothers also take advantage of the system, as nuns cannot inherit properties.

“These are human rights issues and not religious ones. I will call these recommendations landmark and the age for enrolment in nunneries should actually be raised to 21,” Joseph Pulikkun-nel, a reformist priest, said.
“I can cite several cases where girls below 18, majority of them from poor families, are forced to take the vow. Some have donated their assets to the church but many did not get the assets back when they opted out.”
Over the years, according to him, there have been several reforms within the Christian community about inheritance of property. Mary Roy, mother of writer Arundhati Roy, created history by winning a case in the Supreme Court that entitled Christian women to get an equal share of ancestral properties along with their brothers.
“I share and support the commission’s views. Such progressive steps should be a part of a religious body’s search for truth, commitment to justice and struggle for righteousness,” writer-activist Sarah Joseph said.