The Slatest

Nuns Object to Katy Perry Convent Sale for “Obvious Reasons,” Court Filing Says

Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat House.
Sister Catherine Rose, left, and Sister Rita Callanan outside the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat House on June 25 in Los Angeles.

Photo by Mel Melcon/via Los Angeles Times

There is a convent in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz that was once occupied by the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since it’s no longer in use, the convent and its surrounding property are being sold. Since it’s a great 8-acre property in a hip neighborhood for cool youths, singer Katy Perry would like to buy it. The only problem? Katy Perry’s songs celebrate girl-kissing, threesome-having, getting yo’ drink on, and other activities that nuns are largely “not down with.” Two of the order’s five members have sued to block the sale, and despite having earlier said they had no “moral objection” to Perry, one later said she “wasn’t happy” with the content of the pop star’s music videos.  A new court filing futher implies that the litigious nuns do not, in fact, want their successor on the property to be a girl who kisses girls—and even asserts that for the nuns, selling to Perry means “being forced to violate our canonical vows to the Catholic Church.” From the Los Angeles Times:

The sisters say they were first informed in September 2014 that the archbishop planned on selling the property to a woman called Katherine Hudson. The nuns later learned that Hudson was better known as the pop sensation Katy Perry.

After learning more about the singer and her “public image,” the sisters objected to selling Perry the property “for what should be obvious reasons coming from Catholic nuns,” the attorneys wrote.

The two nuns would prefer the property be sold to a restaurateur and developer named Dana Hollister who may keep it open to the public in some capacity and who would pay the nuns directly. The local Catholic archdiocese wants to take Perry’s offer, which involves more cash up front—and which would involve paying the archdiocese rather than the nuns—and says that the nuns’ civil nonprofit does not have the right to decide who the property is sold to.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 30.