From pastoral care in prisons to the courtroom: this is the story of Sister Teresia Joyce, who combines two vocations: consecrated life and legal defence. In ten years of service she has helped 350 people.
She alternates between her violet-coloured sari and black lawyer’s blazer. And her daily prayer is followed by skilful oratory in the courtroom. Sister Teresia Joyce is a nun from the congregation of St Anne's Sisters of Madras in southern India but she is also a criminal defence lawyer.
For ten years now, she has had the unique experience of following two vocations seemingly at odds with one another: consecrated life and defending people in court. But according to Sister Joyce, a female version of Perry Mason dressed in monastic garb, they are not at all at odds: “I will not accept that lawyers are liars. A lawyer is ultimately a human being with a fleshy heart. The individual decides which side he/ she will take up. And if you follow your conscience, you'll always be on the right side," she said in an interview with Indian daily Bangalore Mirror.
Sister Joyce hails from Kolar (in the Indian state of Karnataka). She felt a calling and in 1990 she was professed as a nun having completed her studies. In 1994 she became interested in providing pastoral care in prisons. During her service, she met a priest who talked to her about how his life had changed after a visit to a prison: he had become more sensitive to the needs of the marginalised and of those who suffer behind bars. In them, the Gospel says, is the suffering Christ.
Fascinated by this story, Sister Joyce felt a strong urge to commit to the wellbeing and rehabilitation of prisoners. This is when she received what she refers to as a “special call”. She began visiting prisons more frequently, helping inmates with their material needs. "But that wasn't enough. All they want is to be able to look at the blue sky again," she felt. The young woman realised she needed to become a lawyer.
Achieving her goal was not easy. Although she was given permission to take up law, Sister Joyce could not give up her duties as a teacher within the congregation. "I only attended classes on holidays and studied all night for 20-25 days before the exams," she recalls. For five years she worked hard to juggle community life with her teaching commitments and law studies.
One night, before the Holy Sacrament she said: “Lord I do not have any knowledge about law. You are the source of the desire in me to serve these people, so help me." He studies always came hand in hand with a strong spiritual motivation. It was so that in 2005 she became a lawyer. The first ever nun in the history of the Indian Church to actively practice as a criminal defence lawyer.
Her first case was an under trial for a case of attempted murder. In a drunken fit, a man had hit his wife with a rock. Having spent two years in prison, he was penitent and wanted to go back to his wife, to whom he had been married for 13 years. "He was languishing in jail. There was no one to post bail for him, to escort him to court or care what was happening," she says. After checking his records, she posted Rs 10,000 as his bail, so that he could meet his wife. "I argued that he had no criminal intent. It was an act done in a fit of anger,” she says. Now the family could be together once again.
To illustrate how she balances profession and vocation, Sister Joyce says: 'We are all sinners. Prisoners are sinners who are caught... there are those who make reparation and turn good in prison. We need to have mercy and give them a helping hand.” As she goes on to say, there are only two categories of people - the oppressor and the oppressed. And her mission is to help out the latter. There is no conflict with the teachings of Christ.
"I have to stand by the truth. So I make a number of visits to the petitioner, his/ her family, and understand the situation. Until I am convinced that the person is in the right and needs help, I won't take it up. I will always stand for the truth,” she stresses.
After all, the woman offers free legal assistance and does not discriminate between religions and castes. She gives preference to those who cannot afford a lawyer.
"The law of God is a rule of life," is her poetic understanding of the situation, as Bangalore Mirror puts it, one that has helped her balance the legalese of 350-odd cases in ten years. Through her life and work she weaves the language of the Gospel – a language that comforts the marginalised – into her closing statements.
