Defiant nuns flee care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps

[IwantToRetire]

Three Austrian nuns in their 80s have run away from the retirement home where they were placed and gone back to their former convent.

Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last three nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, just outside Salzburg.

They regained access with the help of former students and a locksmith.

Church authorities are not happy - but the nuns are.

"I am so pleased to be home," Sister Rita said. "I was always homesick at the care home. I am so happy and thankful to be back."

The trio say they were taken out of the convent against their will in December 2023.

continues at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y8r2gk0vyo

The Nun's Liberation Movement !!

I’m not a Catholic. However, I thought that it was the ‘job’ of some orders to live a contemplative life of prayer. Given the horrors of the world, I rather like to think of a community of holy individuals who spend their time praying for good. In that sense, they are benefiting their community.

These nuns had clearly been teachers (ones whose students now are happy to help look after them). Would they really have received no salary at all for that in this day and age? Wouldn’t they have been individually entitled to some sort of state pension?
Idk how these monastic orders work but if I was running one and didn’t want to be accused of being a financially abusive cult I’d make sure members had the financial ability to leave should they wish.

Well, they’re not they just think they are.

If they taught in a school run by their order, no salary, no. If they worked for an external organisation, any money earned goes to the order. But you’re given money to help you set up on leaving, or, if you arrived with a ‘dowry’, it’s returned to you. No idea about state pension.

Go sisters!

This reminds me of a similar case in Belgium years ago. The nuns were given eviction notice from their convent which was to be sold by the church. They took legal advice and found the property belonged to their order rather than the diocese. So they sold up and moved to sunny Spain together. They even bought a special ambulance to take one of the sisters who was too ill to fly. Nuns are badass.

Austria (and Germany) have contribution based welfare systems. I wonder if convent run schools have to contribute to the various welfare systems for their staff who are members of the order, certainly they will have health insurance at the very least. You could make it a condition for being allowed to run a school. They will have to contribute for their staff who aren't nuns anyway. It would make sense, but then many things that would make sense to me aren't implemented.

Sorry no men allowed in the convent unless necessary tradesmrn

You are welcome to leave the convent for overnight stays elsewhere!

If they're in their 80s, they would probably have joined the order about 60 years ago and may have retired from active work within the order 20 or more years ago. So 'in this day and age' and modern rules on minimum wage, employer pension contributions etc don't really apply.

If you’ve not seen it yet here’s a thread casting Nuns on the Run
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5410483-this-will-warm-your-cockles-3-nuns-on-the-run-in-austria?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Fantastic.

Part of what I like about both stories is that despite what might have been difficult times, or getting aggravated (in a quiet contemplative way), they seem to still like each other.

Or at least get on well enough to want to live together.

Where's that? Never-never-land? The nuns I've been fortunate enough to get to know in my now longish life live very simply and work hard, even in old age.

Yes, most orders have simplified their habits or adopted more modern clothing, but not all. Some more conservative orders have held onto their traditional habits, especially on the continent or in the US. Interestingly a few at least of these are actually growing and attracting younger entrants.

Austrian media has more information:
https://salzburg.orf.at/stories/3321288/

Main points:
They were in a catholic care home in a nearby town:
Seniorenresidenz Schloss Kahlsperg in Oberalm (Tennengau)

Now they have medical care through a GP who has her surgery at the same castle (I assume there are several buildings etc)
Food: deliveries through helpers, evening meal cooked by themselves, they used to have a kitchen which was removed in the meantime and which they want back

One nun needs oxygen, another is diabetic

Also removed since they moved out were additional toilets / shower rooms (why?), which they demand back, too.

They had 4 stairlifts in the buildings, which were all removed, and they demand them back, too.

I don't understand why you'd remove parts of rooms when the next use for the building isn't clear yet

There is a dispute about whether you can adapt their building or not; the bishop etc say you can't; but they insist you can and that they didn't refuse adaptation for their needs 3 years ago

Now the church higher-ups say they wouldn't invest any funds for adaptation anymore, all their needs would be taken care of at the care home.

When they moved, the monastery was transferred to an augustinian foundation, and the connected school to the arch diocese of Salzburg.

The previous agreement states that the nuns were allowed to stay as long as it was "justifiable" regarding their health situation. Two of the three were hospitalized before the care home, and then someone (?) made the decision that they couldn't stay there anymore. Possibly they moved everyone so that they could stay together, and realistically one person shouldn't live alone there.

They have a teacher's pension but currently can't access it.

It's a great story, and it is likely that the new owners have financial interests and don't want them living there anymore. If someone lived somewhere 60+ years, it surely is difficult to let that go. There is a danger of de-skilling in care homes, too, when they could do cooking and other tasks by themselves.

On the other hand, when their health varies and one will become more ill, then you will end up with the situation that only 1-2 persons might be left, while the other has to move back to the care home. This will break up their group, too. And the longer they wait with the move, the harder it will be to get used to the new surroundings.

Another aspect which might be important to to them being nuns, is that they are used to a much much calmer environment than a care home is, and that it just drives them crazy, and I can understand that as well.

It was so nice to see how they were sitting down to eat with everything perfectly laid out - even a table cloth. They evidently still know how to live with simple disciplines.

How sweet they were wheeling along and helping each other. Recently I realised that nuns were in many ways not repressed, but on the contrary, free independent women often pursuing interesting activities.

I don't understand why you'd remove parts of rooms when the next use for the building isn't clear yet

To be able to keep the nuns out.

I think I know now where their money is. If they live in a care home, their pensions might pay for it, plus assistance (either from the church or from the health insurance or the state), as usually care home costs are much higher than most pensions.
You would need to officially end that care home contract, which doesn't happen overnight, and then they could access their pension money afterwards. But I imagine the paperwork will take a while.

Anything but.

I liked this bit in another article:

Provost Markus Grasl, who has been responsible for the women since 2022, reacted with irritation. He is worried about the women: "It is completely incomprehensible to me why the sisters have left the church-run retirement home ad hoc, as they are embedded in a community there and, above all, receive absolutely necessary, professional and good medical care."

Think I have now found their instagram account https://www.instagram.com/nonnen_goldenstein

Also Carolyn in Cabin Pressure who I adore!

Yes. No plum pudding for you. And say three Hail Marys. 🙏

@MumChpwell that’s their own decision really isn’t it?

This is not going to end well. If they actually do need proper care. The adaptations they had previously have all been removed.
surprised that they weren’t moved to other convents rather than a care home, as people be usual practice in a situation where a convent closes, that bit makes no sense.

These nuns are Augustinians i.e. teachers, and their nunnery is still an active Augustinian school.

I'm envisaging a drama rather than a doc.

DEFINITELY Stephanie Cole.
Atkins and Imrie are excellent choices for the other two.