WebProNews

Tag: nuns

  • Katy Perry: Nuns Now Say They DO Have Moral Objection To Selling Convent To Singer

    Katy Perry: Nuns Now Say They DO Have Moral Objection To Selling Convent To Singer

    Katy Perry just wanted to buy a nice place where she could live, walk in the garden, meditate. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles had just such a place for sale. But the nuns who used to live at the place have already tried to sell it to a restaurant developer.

    The Archdiocese said the deal the nuns struck won’t work, because it is contingent upon the restauranteur being able to get zoning changes in the area to build a restaurant/hotel. The Archdiocese says the neighbors are opposed and the deal is dead before it gets out of the gate. Katy Perry’s offer requires no such contingency, and gives the nuns a nice chunk of money in trust to live on.

    So the nuns and the Archdiocese went back and forth. The nuns want their original deal with the restauranteur. The Archdiocese wants the deal with Katy Perry.

    “The archbishop has made a personal promise to care for the sisters. We want to make sure no one takes advantage of them,” a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said.

    The Archdiocese says deal the sisters cut only gets $100,000 up front, and the rest contingent on zoning changes going through.

    “How they were persuaded to do this, I don’t know,” an attorney for he archdiocese said of the deal with the restauranteur. “Either the sisters were taken advantage of, or there’s more going on than I understand.”

    “There’s no reason for them to allege that,” the restauranteur says of the Archdiocese claim that the zoning changes are a dealbreaker. “It’s part of the ridiculousness that propels this whole story forward.”

    Needless to say, this whole mess would not be tabloid news if the name “Katy Perry” was not attached to it. You might see it in the L.A. Times, but not the New York Times.

    So, many wondered last week if perhaps the nuns had some personal objection to selling to Katy Perry. She did, after all, have hit songs about kissing girls and being so gay.

    The nuns, however, dismissed that speculation.

    “Well, I found Katy Perry and I found her videos and … if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it,” said Sister Rita, one of the nuns wanting to go with a different buyer.

    But when the deal is examined more closely, the whole thing hinges on the same thing all deals end up hinging on:

    Money.

    “She’s a very nice person, but it’s not the better deal. This is about money – control of money,” Sister Rita admitted.

    “There is no moral objection,” Sister Rita said.

    Katy Perry’s offer is all cash, plus the $4.5 million additional property purchase.

    Well, that’s not what the nuns told the Archdiocese.

    “In selling to Katy Perry, we feel we are being forced to violate our canonical vows to the Catholic Church,” Sister Catherine Rose Holzman wrote to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a letter.

    So the battle rages on. The nuns want a sit-down with the Archbishop, saying they hope the whole thing goes all the way to the Pope, if necessary.

    “We feel terrible about what’s going on,” one of the nuns said. “We’d like to have a nice, friendly talk and iron this out.”

    But another of their number said, “All of the above would and should have been avoided if the chancery personnel possessed a modicum of humility and honesty.”

    But she also suggested that the Archdiocese “even the score” by putting $3 million in the nuns’ bank account.

    Sounds like Sister Rita hit the nail on the head:

    “This is about money – control of money.”

  • Katy Perry Is Still Fighting With Nuns Over $15 Million Estate

    Sister Rita Callanan and Sister Catherine Rose Holzman have requested for a temporary restraining order against the sale of their estate to famous singer Katy Perry.

    The nuns, who were from the Immaculate Heart of Mary order, declared that selling the property to the “Roar” singer would violate their canonical vows to the Catholic church because of her “public image.”

    When Archbishop José H. Gomez first informed the nuns about the plan to sell the 8-acre lot in September 2014 for $14.5 million, he said that the buyer’s name was Katherine Hudson.

    However, when the nuns learned of Ms. Hudson’s stage name and public persona, they decided to push through with their prior arrangement with restauranteur Dana Hollister and sell the land their convent was built upon for $15.5 million.

    According to the nuns, the deal would be far more beneficial as the estate is worth 1 million dollars more than the deal with Perry, which was enough to see the five sisters of the order through their retirement.

    But Archbishop Gomez stated that a sale to the restaurant owner was unauthorized.

    The archbishop also declined to gather the sisters to finalize the deal with Hollister and instead plans to push through a transaction with Katy Perry.

    On the contrary, the nuns declared that they have full authority over the villa-style property on top of a hill in Los Feliz, which they acquired through a non-profit many years ago.

    Though the archbishop has obtained declarations of support from three of the five sisters, namely: Sister Jean-Marie Dunne, Sister Marie Victoriano, and Sister Marie Christine Munoz Lopez; Sister Callanan and Sister Holzman were doubtful of how Gomez acquired the papers.

    The two nuns argued that Sister Dunne was against the sale even though she signed her declaration and Sister Lopez appeared to have taken morphine and was light-headed when she signed her statement.

    Nevertheless, the judge who is in charge of the legal dispute has asked the nuns to sort out the matter with the Los Angeles archdiocese before taking harsh legal steps.

  • Katy Perry Buying Convent Next to Manson “Helter Skelter” House

    Katy Perry has made an offer to buy a convent in Los Angeles. The property sits on eight acres of hillside estate with an Italianate manor and outbuildings.

    A home that adjoins the property Katy Perry wants to buy was made infamous due to being the site of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca by the Manson Family in 1969. This is the site where the misspelled words “Healter Skelter” were written in blood on a refrigerator door.

    That home is not part of the sale agreement between Perry and the archdiocese, but the sale is encountering problems of a different nature, namely: the nuns who occupied the convent until just a few years ago want to stop the sale.

    The nuns’ beef with Perry is not about her pop music or anything moral, not even her “I Kissed a Girl” hit. Rather, it is because the nuns have already cut another deal on their own for the property, apart from the archdiocese. They are suing to stop the sale to Katy Perry, preferring to keep their original deal.

    The nuns of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary left the facility due to budget issues back in 2011, but some priests still occasionally use the site as a retreat location.

    Perry’s terms of sale with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles include $10 million in cash, and another $4.5 million to purchase a facility for the priests that still use the convent as a retreat location.

    The money in the deal would go to a trust that cares for the nuns of the facility.

    But the other deal the nuns have struck is with a buyer who has also offered $10 million, $100,000 of which has already been handed over, and another $5.5 million to boot.

    But that money would go to the archdiocese, not to the nuns.

    Some are saying that this other buyer wants to put a restaurant on the site, but that is denied by others. For her part, Katy Perry has had her eye on the property for two or three years.

    “I would have thought everyone would sit down and it would be settled in five minutes,” said J. Michael Hennigan, a lawyer for the archdiocese. But misunderstandings and rumors seem to be propelling the dispute.

    Three nuns want to sell to Perry, who has a tattoo on her wrist that reads “Jesus.” Two others want to sell to the other buyer.

  • Nuns Sue Nearby Strip Club In Chicago

    Nuns Sue Nearby Strip Club In Chicago

    A convent of nuns called the Sisters of St. Charles is suing Club Allure Chicago and the village of Stone Park in Chicago. According to the nuns, the strip club is located near their church and plays loud music that interrupts their prayer sessions and daily activities.

    The sisters have seen “public violence, drunkenness and litter, including empty whiskey and beer bottles, discarded contraceptive packages and products and even used condoms,” according to the lawsuit, which also mentions the “pulsating and rhythmic staccato-beat noise and flashing neon and or strobe lights” that disturb the nuns.

    The attorney hired by the nuns claims that the nuns have a very good case and that they have the right to pray and live in peace. If they can prove that the club is disrupting their lives, they may just win the lawsuit.

    The club owners claim that they are not violating any noise laws and point out that the nuns have not even bothered to complain to the police or fill out any police reports concerning the matter. The owners believe that the nuns just do not want the strip club near their church.

    “We spent an awful lot of money to make sure that this kind of thing would not occur,” Club Allure manager Robert Itzkow said. “The whole thing is just a question of `we don’t like you; you don’t conform to our religious beliefs.”‘

    “The dancers aren’t monsters. They’re daughters; they’re mothers, and some of them are Catholics too,” he added.

    The nuns feel as if they are not only sticking up for themselves, but also other members of the community who are not happy with the strip club but are too afraid to speak up about it.

    Who do you think is right or wrong?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Vatican Continues To Crack Down On Nuns

    Vatican Continues To Crack Down On Nuns

    The Vatican is officially cracking down on the largest umbrella group for U.S. nuns and Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the Vatican orthodoxy watchdog, started by reprimanding officers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for planning to honor a theologian who had been criticized by U.S. bishops.

    The Vatican has stated that since the group only hold status if the Vatican approves it, it must follow rules and act in a way that the Vatican says is appropriate. If the U.S. bishops do not approve of theologians, than the nuns are not permitted to honor them.

    “The LCWR, as a canonical entity dependent on the Holy See, has a profound obligation to the promotion of that faith as the essential foundation of religious life,” Mueller said, during a speech. “We are looking for a clearer expression of that ecclesial vision and more substantive signs of collaboration.”

    The Vatican has insisted that it does not want to be harsh with the group or try to control it, but only wants them to work with the Vatican. Mueller even apologized for being to blunt with his speech but said that he needed to get a clear message across to the nuns.

    The LCWR met with Mueller and said that the meeting was respectful and engaging, but still do not agree with the investigation that led to the decision to reform the group.

    In 2012, an investigation determined that the nuns were doing amazing humanitarian work but were too focused on social issues and less so on other things the Vatican feels are more important such as fighting abortion.

    The LCWR is planning to give its outstanding leadership award to Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theologian and author of Quest for the Living God. The Vatican does not agree with some of the ideas in Johnson’s book and Mueller called the LCWR leadership award recipient choice “a rather open provocation.”

    The award will be given out in August but the LCWR will be required to submit plans for future awards and major meetings ahead of time to Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, who is in charge of the reform.

    Do you think the Vatican is being fair to the nuns or are they just trying to control the group?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Syrian Nuns Freed By Kidnappers After Three Months

    Syrian insurgents have finally released the 13 nuns and three attendants who were kidnapped from a Greek Orthodox monastery in November.

    The release of the Syrian nuns was part of a hostage swap. In return for the nuns’ release, rebel fighters also released a group of women and some children. The Syrian government appeared to confirm rumors that the government has been detaining children and women who are relatives of those who are suspected of fighting for the opposition.

    The release of the nuns was full of suspense up to the last minute. The nuns, clad in black, travelled to a pro-rebel town called Arsal in order to be received by the Lebanese officials. Government supporters and reporters waited for several hours at the border without a single nun in sight. On Monday morning, the nuns finally appeared at the border.

    Mother Pelagia Sayaf, who heads the Mar Taqla monastery, says that they were treated very well and were never harassed during the three-month ordeal. She also said that the insurgents did not force them to remove their crosses.

    Many media outlets did not acknowledge that an exchange took place at the border. They only focused on the release of the nuns. However, Hadi Abdullah of the Syrian opposition caught the events that transpired at the border on video. The video showed the rebels releasing the nuns in exchange for at least two children and a group of women that the Syrian government was said to be detaining.

    The swap that happened was rare and unforeseen, as peace talks in Geneva for the two sides to give a list of the prisoners they are holding were not successful.

    The nuns were taken to Damascus where they prayed before travelling to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate located in Old Damascus, where they will be staying.

    Nuns back in Syria

    http://youtu.be/4FUjgC68RXs

    Image via YouTube

  • Nun Convicted For Nuclear Weapons Protest

    Catholics are no strangers to protests, and even nuns and priests have been arrested on occasion during protests. This week, an 83-year-old nun was convicted for her participation in a break-in protest at a nuclear facility last July.

    According to a BBC News report, Sister Megan Rice and two other protesters, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were convicted this week of sabotage and depredation of government property. The trio cut a fence and broke into the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which processes and stores uranium for use in nuclear weapons. They threw baby bottles filled with human blood onto the walls of the facility.

    The protesters are part of a group called Transform Now Plowshares. The group issued a statement in conjunction with the protest, stating that the facility is “an ongoing criminal endeavor in violation of international al treaty law…” From a separate statement:

    We come to the Y-12 facility because our very humanity rejects the designs of nuclearism, empire and war. Our faith in love and nonviolence encourages us to believe that our activity here is necessary; that we come to invite transformation, undo the past and present work of Y-12; disarm and end any further efforts to increase the Y-12 capacity for an economy and social structure based upon war-making and empire-building.

    Sister Rice is well-known for her anti-war activism. According to a New York Times feature on Rice published in August 2012, she has been arrested “40 or 50 times” for civil disobedience.

    Rice and her fellow protesters now face up to 20 years in prison for what authorities believe is one of the most serious U.S. nuclear facility security breaches in history.