California court deals setback to Sisters, paves way for sale of property to Katy Perry
August 04, 2015
A Los Angeles county court has annulled the sale of a building owned by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, saying that Archbishop Jose Gomez has control of the property and its sale.
The legal dispute arose when the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary moved to sell their property, an imposing home that had been built for a wealthy owner and eventually donated to their religious order. Archbishop Gomez intervened, claiming the right to dispose of the property, and sold it to the entertainer Katy Perry.
Disturbed by the sale—and particularly the sale to a singer whose public image is radically at odds with Christian moral principles—the Sisters filed suit against the archdiocese, asserting their own right to sell the property. They reached their own agreement with a commercial developer, who has taken possession after making a small down-payment.
The court ruled that the sale to the developer was “unauthorized,” since Archbishop Gomez has the authority to arrange a sale that is, in his view, in the Sisters’ best interests. "I would like to reiterate my continued commitment to all of the Immaculate Heart sisters that the archdiocese will take care of them and ensure their well-being now and in the future," the archbishop said.
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Posted by: Bernadette -
Aug. 05, 2015 11:56 AM ET USA
Is money all that important? Will it all go to the sisters? Or, to the archdiocese...
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Posted by: unum -
Aug. 04, 2015 7:08 PM ET USA
Hmmm! We have all heard "Trust Me ... I'll take care of you!" from our dioceses before ... only to find that they decided to take a different direction in the future. The business ethics practices in some of our Catholic dioceses would put secular corporate leaders in jail.
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Posted by: james-w-anderson8230 -
Aug. 04, 2015 6:20 PM ET USA
Your coverage of this issue seems very one sided. You never mention That the Archbishop's deal would be much sounder and would net the sisters about $4.5 million dollars more than the illegal sale.
