Two nuns claim in newly filed court papers that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles used an incorrect translation of a Vatican decree to convince a judge to clear the way to sell a former convent in Los Feliz to singer Katy Perry.
The decree, when properly translated from its original Latin into English, stated that the dispute was still being decided in Rome, according to court documents filed Monday on behalf of Sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman.
They allege the archdiocese did not give that information to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick when she nullified a sale of the property to businesswoman Dana Hollister.
“Then, just hours after the court announced its (April 13) decision, (the nuns) learned for the first time that the (archdiocese) actually knew, at least three weeks before the decision, that proceedings remained in (Rome), but failed to inform the court of that crucial fact,” according to the nuns’ court papers.
Callanan and Holzman, two of five members of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, favored the sale to Hollister. They are asking Bowick to reconsider her ruling blocking the Hollister sale or a stay of her orders pending a decision on the issues from the Vatican. A hearing is scheduled June 20.
The archdiocese released a statement Thursday in reaction to the two nuns’ motion.
“The main concern of the archdiocese is and has always been the care and well-being of all the IHM sisters,” the statement read. “Per previous decisions of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 2005, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the archdiocese is representing the best interests of the Institute which includes all five remaining IHM Sisters.”
According to the statement, lawyers for Callanan and Holzman “have never advised the court nor the archdiocese of what they filed in Rome. The remaining three IHM Sisters are not in agreement with the Hollister sale or with the actions being taken by the two.” “As the court ruling stated, the Hollister transaction was not valid,” the statement says. “This was always our concern with the Hollister transaction that basically took possession of the sisters’ property for just $44,000 and a contingent promissory note, without any guarantee that the sisters would ever receive any additional payment of the offer they received. We stand with the court’s ruling that protects all the sisters from an invalid transaction.”
— Wire reports