Kannur: Archdiocese of Tellicherry in Kerala has alleged that extremists are luring teenage girls from Christian homes into their schemes feigning love.
The pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplani as part of the Eight Day Lent also urged for a revamp of awareness programmes in the diocese to educate teenagers about the alleged 'love traps' by extremists.
"There has been an increase in the number of cases where our girls are entrapped by extremists. Let us pray for the sorrows of the parents who remain helpless when their children fall into the trap of religious extremists. In this era of increasing violence against women, we should respect women and femininity as we love and respect the Holy Mother.
"Everyone should take advantage of the Archdiocesan Catechism Center's awareness campaign aimed at teenage children and their parents so that our children do not fall into the trap of terrorist groups," the pastoral letter said.
This is not the first time that the Church has had this issue in the state.
In September 2021, Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt raised the twin issues of "love jihad" and "narcotic jihad" during his sermon in the Christian-dominant Kottayam region.
Kallarangatt alleged that Christian girls in the state were being lured by "jihadis" by feigning love and subjected to exploitation, forced religious conversion and terrorist activities.
To elaborate his point, he cited the stories of two girls – Nimisha and Sonia Sebastian from Kerala who had converted to Islam to marry Muslim men and later ended up in ISIS-controlled Afghanistan to fight for the terror group. The bishop also spoke of how an organised racket lured and trapped youngsters of non-Muslim faiths with drugs. He labelled this “narcotic jihad”.
It was the first time that a senior Catholic Bishop took direct aim at the Muslim community.
The Tellicherry Archdiocese's letter, it seems, has taken great care to circumnavigate this sensitive topic by coining a new term "love trap" and by staying away from using the phrase Muslim.
