Katy Perry's internationally acclaimed "The Prismatic World Tour" is set to land on China in April. (Photo : commons.wikimedia.org)
Is Katy Perry planning to do a "Sister Act" with her offer to buy an eight-acre estate in Los Feliz of which the owner's right to sell is being disputed? The "Roar" singer offered $14.5 million to purchase the property where the nuns of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary congregation has been living for decades.
The nuns are hesitant to sell the place to Katy, named third-highest paid celebrity last week by Forbes, and would rather have Dana Hollister, a Los Angeles restaurateur, acquire the place. Sister Rita Callanan and Sister Catherine Rose, heads of the congregation, has accepted a $100,000 earnest money from Hollister as part of the businesswoman's $15.5 million offer.
However, LA Archbishop Jose Gomez wants the singer to be the property's owner. He sought a court injunction to prevent the elderly nuns from selling it to Hollister, who, according to Hollywood Reporter, has moved into the property. The hearing on the property dispute before the LA County Superior Court is scheduled on July 30.
Gomez is said to be against the plans of Hollister to develop a restaurant on the property. The nuns insist they are the legal owners of the property.
LA Times quotes Lenore Navarro Dowling, one of the daily's readers who commented on the court battle. Dowling, apparently from the congregation, points out that the nuns followed the Vatican Council II challenge to change their structure in 1970. The change led to the sisters cutting ties with the local bishop and Vatican and the establishment of an independent Immaculate Heart Community from the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart congregation.
"This is another example of power struggle, where the archdiocese apparently has sufficient funds for costly litigation to challenge the sisters' claim to their rights," Dowling wrote.
Because of the severing of ties, the nuns have been left to fend for themselves in their senior years, observes Barbara Sabo of Hermosa Beach. Sabo argues that if the nuns bought the property years ago when they could afford it, it makes them the true and rightful owners, free to sell it to whoever they want to.
Chris Fuentes, who studied in the early 1970s in a Catholic school where Sister Rita was the principal, thinks the archdiocese is trying to rip off the nuns. While Fuentes says that she likes Katy's music and believes the singer would be a great LA neighbor, Fuentes believes Gomez must honor Sister Rita's decision.
LA Times' assessment of the situation, based on readers' comments, is that Katy does not need a nunnery, while the elderly sisters need the proceeds of the property sales for their sunset years.
