Elderly nuns in Austria escape retirement home to return to convent • FRANCE 24 English

Sister Bernardet, Sister Rita, and Sister Regina have become heroins. In the Austrian village of Elizabethan near Saltsburg, the three defiant nuns, aged 88, 81, and 86 years old, orchestrated an incredible escape from their retirement home where they had been kept for over a year to return home to the Goldenstein Convent located within the village castle. They were welcomed by the villagers. The three nuns now hope to live there in peace, but they fear being evicted by the church authorities. I’m filled with immense joy and gratitude in my heart that I can be back again in our familiar buildings, in our so-called cloister, and all around it, and that I can go back to the children again if we are allowed to. We took our vows. That means we live here in this convent and are not transferred somewhere else. We remain in this convent until our death. Former students of the Catholic school within the castle and villages helped them escape from the retirement home and break into the convent which had no electricity nor water. Even though their supporters have since restored power and refurbished a few rooms in the castle, the church authorities say they’re concerned for the nuns health and safety. But for Christina, a former student at the Catholic school, the sisters wishes must be respected. I think the commissioner thought that the sisters would be better off in a retirement home. But you have to ask the sisters first. You can’t just treat someone disrespectfully without consulting them and then simply send them off to a retirement home. To raise awareness for their cause, Bernardet, Rita, and Regina created an Instagram account where they share their daily lives. This also indicates that they can live independently in the convent.

Three nuns, aged 81, 86 and 88, enlisted the help of villagers and former boarding school students to flee from the Austrian retirement home they had been placed in to return to their convent. The sisters were the last nuns in the convent, and say they were moved from there against their will in late 2023.
#Austria #nuns #catholic church

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22 comments

  3. They were KIDNAPPED by that "retirement home". And if the church did that to them, they should be charged with human trafficking. These sisters are in sound mind and body. They are NOT prisoners!!!

  10. Why would nuns be put in a retirement home in the first place?? There's no retirement from monasticism, and what, younger nuns can't take care of older nuns??? I'm calling this FAKE!

  20. What absolutely amazing women and community for helping them escape.

    They have served the church all their lives, yet when they need help they are removed and locked away? I really hope things change for these ladies.

  22. They gave lives of service. If the church is displeased, God will forgive them. Let them live happily. Peace be with you sisters!

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