Widows, divorcees can now enter church as nuns

KOCHI: The Jacobite Syrian Church is ordaining widows and divorcees as nuns. Across various church denominations, only unmarried women are usually admitted to the fold as nuns. The church, which follows Orthodox traditions, has around 250 nuns at present and 10 convents in Kerala.
With plans to set up a string of hospitals and educational institutes, the church authorities feel it can do with more helping hands.Fr Varghese Kallappara, spokesperson of the Jacobite Church, says: “Widows, divorcees, spinsters and disabled can get trained and become nuns.” If such women have children, they would be admitted to various children’s homes run by the church, said Fr Kallappara.
Age is no bar. Many women in their 30s and 40s who remain unmarried due to financial constraints, too, are welcome to take up the vocation.
The Syro-Malabar church, one of the Catholic churches in Kerala, has been admitting widows to its convents, citing that marriage is a holy life, and that there should not be an ‘either/ or’ choice for women. “Divorced women, however, would need special permission from the church to enter the service. We give priority to commitment and virtue,” says Fr Paul Thelakat, spokesperson, Syro-Malabar Church. The church has more than 30,000 nuns.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has no plans to change the rules. “This is a vocation, and it has its own rules. We have only a few nuns who joined the service after marriage, and they are housed in our ashram in Coimbatore,” says Fr Johns Abraham Konat, priest trustee of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.