Nuns Try To Block Sale Of L.A. Convent To Katy Perry
The Sisters Of The Immaculate Heart Of Mary, it would seem, are Team Taylor. Up until 2011, the nuns of the Catholic order lived in a hilltop convent in Los Feliz, which spanned several acres and offered amazing views. For a few years, Katy Perry has been trying to buy the convent, hoping to turn it into her home, as The Los Angeles Times reports. But right now, two of the five surviving sisters are locked in a legal battle with Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who has agreed to sell the property to Perry.
The issue is apparently over who actually owns the convent. The Sisters think they’re the only ones allowed to sell it, while the L.A. archdiocese also claims the rights. Perry had agreed to pay $14.5 million in cash to the archdiocese. But while they were finishing up the paperwork, the sisters sold it to L.A. restaurateur Dana Hollister for $15.5 million, turning over the property to her. She’s already moved in, and she’s got possible plans to turn it into a boutique hotel, even though that’ll take zoning changes.
So the issue is basically money rather than any religious objection to Katy Perry’s general existence. The sisters claim that they were moved off of the property against their will in 2011, even though they bought the property with their money decades ago. And they’re worried that the diocese won’t cover their living expenses with the money from the sale to Perry, even though the diocese insists that it will.
But Perry did go meet with the sisters, doing her best to make a good impression on them. The Times reports that she “dressed rather conservatively,” sang “Oh Happy Day” for them, and showed them her “Jesus” wrist tattoo, all of which is hilarious. 77-year-old Sister Rita Callahan also looked up some of Perry’s videos when she first learned of Perry’s interest, and here’s what she says: “Well, I found Katy Perry and I found her videos and … if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it.” During their meeting with Perry, Sister Rita says Perry made a good impression, saying that she wanted to live on the property with her mother and grandmother. But she also watched Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show and made fun of the way she flew around on that shooting star: “I thought, is that a way to make money? Maybe I could fly around. I could be the flying nun.” There’s no word on whether she’d be willing to sell the property to Left Shark.