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Nun Left Fighting For Cash After Legal Battle With Katy Perry Over LA Convent

Nun Left Fighting For Cash After Legal Battle With Katy Perry Over LA Convent

Callahan has claimed that the archbishop started sending the sisters to retirement homes 'one by one'

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A nun has said she's been left scrambling for money following the legal row with Katy Perry and her archbishop over the sale of an eight-acre convent.

The slightly confusing dispute even turned to tragedy last week after one of the nuns - Sister Catherine Rose Holzman - collapsed and died in court on Friday. She was 89.

Apparently the nuns had tried to sell the convent in Los Angeles' Los Feliz neighbourhood to restauranteur Dana Hollister, who wanted to turn the property into a boutique hotel. Katy Perry was also interested in the property, but Hollister was the nuns' preferred bidder.

PA

Despite this, Hollister was ordered by a court to pay $15 million in compensation to Perry and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for intervening in the bidding process. The court ruled that the nuns had no right to sell the property because it was owned by the Archdiocese.

Holzman's fellow nun, Sister Rita Callanan, says that she found out about the Perry sale though a realtor friend, and that the archbishop did not consult the sisters.

"All we are asking is to sell our own property, keep our own money so we can take care of ourselves until the last person dies, then the money and property can go to the archbishop," Callanan said, The Daily Mail reports.

"All these years of my religious life, I would never have expected to be fighting an archbishop to keep our own property and money, so we can care for ourselves. We don't want the archbishop handling our money."

PA

Callanan has claimed that the archbishop started sending the sisters to retirement homes 'one by one, separately, so we weren't a unit'. She also reportedly said that all their bank accounts were closed - they each had upwards of £215,000 in their accounts.

According to the Daily Mail, Callanan lives frugally as she now has to rely on a stipend - a regular sum of expenses - from the RCA, which she says is barely enough to survive. She has also explained that the archdiocese refuses to pay any of their legal bills.

"My health insurance has only been partly paid recently - I got cancellation notice from health insurance, as they didn't pay the bill, so I had to borrow money from a friend as I didn't want it cancelled. I was two months in arrears. They better pay it back to me.

Fox

"I have health issues, I have diabetes and breast cancer. They don't pay some of the bills on time, I said when it comes to this sort of insurance, you have to pay it. I don't know if I'm covered, I'm supposed to be, that's all I know.

"Sister Catherine Rose had an unpaid medicine bill for £500 then she made out a check to the pharmacy and it bounced. It's horrible.

"He is claiming he's taking care of us, that's not true. We send bills up there and they don't get paid. I get my stipend, but it's not leaving me enough for living expenses for the way the cost of living has risen groceries.

She added: "It's been a horrible fight for women who have been in religious life for so long who have done so much for our archdiocese. It was our property, we had the deed, he said he had the authority and had a letter from Rome from his friend that wasn't even recorded. It was a lie."

Featured Image Credit: Fox

Topics: News, US News, Katy Perry