Rebel nuns who fled care home and broke into convent can stay — if they give up social media
The three nuns and former teachers — Sisters Regina, 86, Bernadette, 88, and Rita, 81 — have broke back into their old home of Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen, Austria, in September in defiance of their spiritual superiors. Picture: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty
Three octogenarian nuns who gained a global following after breaking out of their care home and moving back to their abandoned convent near Salzburg in Austria have been given leave to stay in the convent “until further notice” — on condition they stay off social media, Church officials have said.
The rebel sisters — Bernadette, 88, Regina, 86, and Rita, 82, all former teachers at the school adjacent to their convent — broke back into their old home of Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen, Austria, in September in defiance of their spiritual superiors.
The story prompted headlines around the world.
It also fostered a huge wave of affection for the trio who have built up a loyal following on social media, where they post regular reports about their tumultuous experience and joy at their return.
They have been helped by local supporters and former pupils, who have provided them with food, clothing, medical care, and security and installed a chairlift to enable the three to reach their third-floor cells.
The nuns’ religious superior, provost Markus Grasl from Reichersberg Abbey, had argued that the sisters had to be placed in a care home as they were unable to safely live in the old stone convent.
He repeatedly accused them of breaking their vows of obedience, a claim that the nuns denied.
However, last Friday, church officials said the women could stay at Goldenstein “until further notice” after a proposal put forward by Grasl aimed at resolving the dispute.
The nuns have yet to agree to the deal.
Church officials have reportedly said the nuns will be provided with adequate medical care and nursing help, and a priest would be at their disposal to serve regular Mass.
Over the past months, priests have had to be more-or-less smuggled into the convent’s chapel to celebrate Mass, against the will of Church authorities.
Among the conditions for the three nuns to remain include the cessation of all social media activity, a ban on outside visitors to the convent, and the settling of a legal dispute.
Should the health conditions of the women deteriorate, they would be registered at the Elsbethen nursing home and placed on the waiting list there.
“Now it’s up to the sisters,” Harald Schiffl, a spokesperson for Grasl, told the Austrian news agency APA.
In a statement late on Friday, the three nuns, referring to themselves in the third person, denied that either they or their allies had been consulted over the proposal, dismissing it as vague, one-sided and “failing to contain any legally binding commitments”.
“In particular the promise as reported in the media, that the sisters would be allowed to remain in the convent, lacks any legal force... due to the inclusion of the clause: ‘until further notice’ and is therefore legally worthless,” the statement, issued by their supporters, said.
They added that they resented the fact that the conditions according to which they could stay had “the character of a restrictive contract” equivalent to a restraining order, which would ban them from seeking outside legal help, or using social media.
There was “no legal basis whatsoever” for the conditions, which would have the effect of “depriving them of their only remaining protection from the interested public,” they stated.
For an agreement to be reached with the Archdiocese of Salzburg, they added, the church officials would have to “finally engage in dialogue with those affected, take their legitimate claims and needs seriously and declare their willingness to agree to a solution that is both just and legally compliant.”
- Guardian
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