A single nun remains in the years-long court battle against Katy Perry's $14 million acquisition of a former convent located in Los Angeles, California.
According to reports, the last surviving sister of the Immaculate Heart Mary, Sister Rita Callanan, has vowed to continue opposing the sale of the property to the pop star. Callanan is replacing Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, the woman who took Perry to court. She collapsed and died on March 9 at the age of 89.
"Sister's death has taken a toll on me. It really has," Sister Callanan said in a statement. "But I'm not going to give up."
Convent For Sale
The property in the middle of the dispute between the nuns and the American Idol judge is an 8-acre, Mediterranean-style estate built in 1927. It is located in the hills of the Los Feliz neighborhood, with a fountain, pool, and breathtaking views of the San Gabriel Valley and downtown Los Angeles.
The sisters of the Immaculate Heart purchased the building back in 1972, pooling their incomes from working as educators to raise $600,000, reported Billboard. It is easy to see why letting go of the convent was a difficult decision.
However, the issue here is not about the nuns wanting to keep the property for themselves: the late Sister Holtzman was one of the two nuns who tried to sell the convent to another buyer, Dana Hollister, who planned to turn the estate into a boutique hotel.
During that time, the Archdiocese was also in negotiation with the "Swish, Swish" singer to purchase the property. In December, the court ruled that Hollister pay almost $10 million in damages for interfering the sale of the convent to the 33-year-old pop star.
Sister Callanan insists that the property is owned by the nuns. She told The Daily Beast that the Archdiocese put a stop to all of the convent's sources of revenue and then kick the sisters out.
In their defense, the Archdiocese claimed that the space became too costly for the sisters to live in and has become physically challenging for them to use.
"There are a lot of stairs, and it's a really big space as well," said the spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "A lot of the sisters now live in assisted living homes or retirement homes where they can get the proper care they need."
In addition, the legal team representing the Archbishop of Los Angeles revealed that majority of the sisters agreed to have the Archdiocese sell the convent in 2014.
But Sister Callanan is not budging.
"I just feel that Katy Perry is used to getting all she wants, and to her money means everything, and to her, whatever Katy wants, Katy gets," she stated. "The jury never heard our story."
Sister Callanan has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the nuns of Immaculate Heart of Mary to keep the convent. As of this writing, the fundraiser has already reached and surpassed their goal of $30,000.
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