The Congregation for Oriental Churches in the Vatican has rejected Sister Lucy Kalappura’s appeal against her dismissal from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation in May this year.
A letter dated October 11 from Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, apostolic nuncio in India, said that the Congregation for Oriental Churches had “rejected the Recourse presented by Sr. Kalappura.” The letter also said that if Sister Kalappura considered the dismissal of her appeal against her lawful rights she could “present a new Recourse to the Supreme Tribunal of the Segnatura Apostolica” within the prescribed time.
After she was dismissed by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, Sr. Lucy had written to the Congregation for Oriental Churches in August this year.
Sister Lucy attracted media attention after she came out in support of a group of Catholic nuns who protested in public against the rape of one of their colleagues by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar. In Spetember 2018, Sister Lucy Kalappura participated in a public protest in Kochi, which drew the attention of her superiors, who accused her of breaching the rules of conduct of the congregation.
The congregation claimed that she had not furnished satisfactory replies to notices served on her on these acts of breach of discipline. Sister Lucy is now at the Franciscan Clarist convent in Mananthavady in Wayanad district.