With controversies and slander or scandal-mongering still swirling over the arrest of the nun in charge of Blessed Teresa’s Rawathawatte home for pregnant women or children who had been raped, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith in a prophetic proclamation has said he would not attend any state ceremonies for the Christmas season until the baseless and dangerous allegations in some sections of the media against the well-loved missionaries of charity were rectified.

The Cardinal, who is also the Archbishop of Colombo, called a news conference to express dismay over the irresponsible, unbalanced and unfair reporting of what was happening at the Prem Nivasa with some officials telling the media that babies were being sold from the home and even that disabled children were being sold for their organs to be transplanted. The Cardinal said he had personally visited Prem Nivasa and found that the nuns were looking after the pregnant women and girls or their babies with love and compassion which few others were willing or able to give them.

The missionaries of charity, formed by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, has more than 5,000 sisters who are well trained and work in almost every country in the world, even in countries where religion is not allowed. When young girls or women or even underage children are raped and have involuntary pregnancies, it is the responsibility of society to help such desperate victims.

Who will look after these children -- children who are raped and then abandoned? Even the underage child who was in Prem Nivasa was raped by her mother’s sister’s son. How will we help such children?

The Cardinal who spoke out like a John the Baptist significantly on the eve of the day when the Gospel reading focused on the ministry of the great prophet, said that recently in a medical report published by the Ministry of Health it was revealed there were nearly 300,000 abortions a year in Sri Lanka. This is a crime against the future generation and we need to take legal steps to curb this because society as a whole is responsible for such abortions. It is our prime responsibility to see that these children are born, loved and looked after. This comes from the teachings of all religions to look after such children and the orphans instead of persecuting or attacking those who are doing it selflessly, sincerely and sacrificially, sometimes working from 4.00 in the morning till late at night.

The sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, are world renowned for their dedicated and selfless service and they accept these children lovingly and look after them with utmost care. These sisters look after not only such desperate children, but also the elderly, the sick, the handicapped, the abandoned like lepers, the rejected, the destitute and the disabled.

The Cardinal said that what happened at Prem Nivasa on November 25 was that the National Child Protection Authority and Police did not find out the real information about the home, but instead gave to the media totally incorrect information which was used maliciously against the sisters. The mission of these sisters is a painful struggle like a Gethsemane or a Calvary. In the process, they also may sometimes fall and fail and not all ways act according to the letter of the law. But the fruits of inner liberative spirituality are love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, meekness, gentleness, humility and self-control. Against such everlasting virtues, the letter of the law becomes a dead letter.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka