A Chance Encounter Is the Seed of a Catholic Nun’s Transgender Ministry

Today’s post is Part 2 of a two-part series this week on LGBTQ+ ministry in India.  You can read Part 1 by clicking here.

Transgender ministry is “God’s special plan” for one Catholic nun in India who has been the driving force to empower and advocate for transgender people in the southeastern portion of that country.

In a GlobalCatholic.com interview, Sr. Amitha Polimetla, a Salvatorian Sister (Sisters of the Divine Savior), explained how she came to recognize this work as God’s mission for her after she witnessed the exclusion experienced by India’s transgender community. 

Salvatorian Sister Amitha Polimetla (standing third from right in blue) poses with members of the Nee Thodu Society in Andhra Pradesh, southeastern India.

The nun founded the Nee Thoudu Society (which translates as “Your Companion” or “Your Support”),  which provides direct social services to transgender populations. She also completed a doctorate program on transgender communities. She said her mission  is to “empower [transgender people] to become part of the social mainstream. She achieves this by providing “self-help groups, educational support, livelihood initiatives and awareness programs, we strive to promote dignity, inclusion and self-reliance.”

Sr. Polimetla had no intention of working with transgender peopleuntil she had a personal encounter with a transgender individual, and she saw the woman’s pain because of exclusion. She said that shee began to feel a shift in her heart. Whenshe began her doctorate focusing on transgender communities, she had reached a place of acceptance that this was where God was leading her. 

“If these people are suffering,” she recalled telling her superiors, “someone must work for them.” Thus, the Nee Thoudu society was born. 

The society follows a simple process to aid people. At first, representatives visit transgender communities and conduct surveys to determine the community’s needs. At this point, they help individuals acquire government identification and access to welfare programs. Job training and educational support follow. Finally, they focus on building community and strengthening systems of support. In addition, the society hosts programs aimed at increasing awareness and understanding amongst family members and community partners.

Sr. Polimetla also works to expand transgender ministry beyond her community and her organization. In 2024, for example, she addressed over 600 religious superiors at a national conference in Bengaluru, imploring them to start outreach ministries in their own regions. In 2022, when the general superior of her order visited her province, Sr. Polimetla invited 10 transgender people to share their stories, and the encounter was so impactful that several people were moved to tears, including the general superior. 

One of these transgender women told the superior:

“If the sister had not come into my life, I would have committed suicide. Our families rejected us. Society rejected us. But this nun comes to us every day. We have never seen Mother Teresa, but for us she is our Mother Teresa.”

After the visit, the general superior told Sr. Polimetla that God clearly had a special plan for her and that transgender ministry would be one of the special missions of her order. 

This nun’s story serves as a powerful reminder of both the impact and the necessity of recognizing the humanity of transgender individuals– not as problems to be solved or undesirables to be ignored, but instead as human beings with stories to share and voices to be heard. 

Sr. Polimetla keeps this notion at the heart of her work, which is why she hopes that one day the Nee Thoudu society will close its doors because the need for it will have disappeared:

“People are often surprised when I say that. But I hope for the day when transgender persons will no longer need an organization like ours because they are fully accepted by their families and society. Most transgender persons do not want charity. They want love. They want their parents to accept them, their siblings to stand beside them, and society to treat them with dignity. Until that day comes, we will continue to be with them.”

—Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, September 4, 2026