800 YOUNG GIRLS SOLD BY FATHER CYRIAC OF KERALA
800 YOUNG GIRLS SOLD BY FATHER CYRIAC OF KERALA “exporting” more than 800 young Catholic girls from Kerala to Germany ON SALE Nearly half a century ago, Father Cyriac Puthenpurackal, who was in charge of an independent diocese in Ettumanoor in Kottayam district, was accused of “exporting” more than 800 young Catholic girls from Kerala to Germany in what came to be known as the “nun-running” scandal of the 1960s and early 70s. The girls, who mostly came from poor families, were apparently under the impression that they were going to be trained as nurses or teachers; but they actually landed up doing domestic work in the convents of Germany. In the 1960s, the German convents were finding it difficult to maintain the huge nunneries which were built at a time when many local girls were willing to take their vows. In Kerala, on the other hand, large Catholic families were still eager to dedicate some of their children to the Church. Father Puthenpurackal and his associates explo...