Yet another case of a nun’s dead body being found in a well was reported from Kerala. The deceased, Mabel Joseph hails from Karunagapally and was living at St. Joseph convent near Kureepuzha, barely 20 kilometers apart in the Kollam district of Kerala.
As usual, the church and the police named it a ‘suicide’ and that should be the end of the story. A case of unnatural death has been registered and a purported investigation too is underway. Declaring such a death as a suicide even before an autopsy report is available has become the common practice, whenever a young nun dies. Mabel was just 42 and it is reported that she reached this particular convent just a month ago.
An alleged suicide note claiming full responsibility and denying any foul-play was also found from the victim’s room. The note claims that unable to bear the pain and physical uneasiness caused by her allergy problems she was taking this extreme step. Don’t such nunneries provide medical assistance to their residents and do all those who suffer similar pain die by suicide?
Apparently, the other inmates launched an ‘intensive search’ when the lady didn’t appear for morning prayers. What is it with nuns and wells? Surprisingly, male pastors/priests seldom wind up dead in wells? What’s really happening inside these convents? At the least, its time that suicide prevention and mental health counselling desks be set up for nuns, seeing the steady stream of such cases.
The likes of IMA President Dr. Johnrose Austin Jayalal who want to evangelize to suffering patients in hospitals and to young medical interns, should instead focus their energy on providing their ‘Christian spiritual healing’ to their own religious clergy.
Is the whole scheme of women ending up in such homes as ‘brides of Jesus’ poverty-driven or faith-driven? Why do parents still push their young girls into such unhealthy environments especially when it is a known fact that priests like Franco Mulakkal prey on nuns and still roam free? Should such retreats be allowed to operate without increased oversight where such unnatural deaths have become common and where no one is ready to take responsibility?
Investigations into another recent unnatural death of Sister Jaseena in Kerala, though filled with suspicions have come up with nothing concrete, as yet.
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