Katy Perry apparently had a role to play in the death of a Catholic nun over disputes regarding a Los Angeles convent, alleges the nun’s best friend.
Speaking to the New York Post, Sister Rita Callanan said the legal battles with Katy Perry have yielded nothing but hell in her life, leaving her “paralyzed, penniless and without a home.”
“I really didn’t like Katy Perry. I’m sure she doesn’t like me,” the 81-year-old nun told the outlet.
Rita Callanan belonged to Order of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is now the Order’s last surviving member. In 1972, the Order purchased a 30,000 square-foot Spanish/Gothic home for which it had pooled money — raising most of the funds by allowing Hollywood production companies to film on the property.
In 2011, however, the sisters claim that the Los Angeles archdiocese forced them to move and then sold the property to none other than pop singer Katy Perry in 2015. The diocese was seemingly unfazed by the fact they were selling a piece of Catholic real estate to a woman who has opposed the Church on every single cultural issue, from abortion to homosexuality to witchcraft. Since the nuns believed they should have a say as to who should inherit the property they had cultivated for nearly 40 years, they sold the property to businesswoman Dana Hollister — thus sparking a multi-year legal battle.
In 2016, a judge sided with the Los Angeles archdiocese and Katy Perry by declaring invalid the nuns’ sale of the property to Hollister. Despite that, the nuns persisted until March of last year, when Sister Callanan’s best friend, 89-year-old Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, collapsed and died in a Los Angeles court as they prepared to face Perry for another round of legal battles. “Katy Perry. Please stop,” were reportedly Sister Holzman’s last words.
Sister Callanan claims the ordeal with Perry essentially killed her best friend, boldly declaring the pop icon has “blood on her hands.” Since then, Callanan says her life has only gotten worse and that the Los Angeles archdiocese has only poured salt on an open wound. Though the nuns have made appeals to the Vatican, Callanan claims the archdiocese has been interfering through nefarious means. From the report:
Callanan claims that employees of the archdiocese then got access to Holzman’s apartment at St. John of God Retirement Home in LA.
She believes they were after correspondence between the Sisters and the Vatican about the convent.
“They took the hard drive from her personal computer, which had all the stuff from Rome on it,” Callanan said. “The following day, we learned that attorneys for the archdiocese tried to break into [Holtzman’s] mailbox and storage unit.”
A rep for the Archdiocese said that Holzman’s “family had primary responsibility for her belongings and documents, and the Archdiocese coordinated directly with them on all decisions.”
Callanan claimed the archdiocese demanded her laptop as well. “I had to get a friend to hide it,” she said.
A source told the outlet that Callanan’s bank account has been under control of the archdiocese since 2011 and that the money has not been paid to her on time.
“Medical insurance, TV, her credit cards, there were always late charges, but she was too scared to speak about it. She had to borrow money from friends,” the source said. “She had to go to the Sister Christian Service Group to get bags of food. She had nothing in the pantry as she wasn’t getting enough money.”
“The Archdiocese doesn’t understand what they have done to these women, [or] just how devastated [the nuns] were when they kicked them out and really destroyed their community,” the source continued.
The Los Angeles archdiocese has disputed this claim, asserting that Archbishop Gomez has seen to it these women have been cared for. “More than 10 years ago, the Archbishop of Los Angeles undertook responsibility for their future care and well-being [at the Vatican’s behest],” said the archdiocese. “Since then, the Archdiocese has continuously provided … for all the living, medical and other costs for the care of Sister Rita and all remaining [Immaculate Heart of Mary] Sisters.”
As for Katy Perry, she no longer wants the property and has put it back on the market for $25 million. The Los Angeles archdiocese told the New York Post: “While the formal legal option on the property has expired, the Archdiocese and Ms. Perry continue to be in communication concerning her continued interest in the property.”