Photo: Sister Rita, Sister Regina, and Sister Bernadette were sent to a nursing home against their will in 2023, and in violation of promises made by Church authorities.
“I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much,” Sister Bernadette said.
— from a story by Bethany Bell on BBC.com, September 2025.
I don’t normally wear a hat, but if I did, my hat would be off to the three nuns near Salzburg, Austria, who regained access to their home — the Kloster Goldenstein convent — with the help of former students and a locksmith.
They’d been evicted from the convent against their will in December 2023 and placed in a nursing home. Which was bad enough, but to make matters worse, they had previously been promised, by Church authorities, the right to live at Kloster Goldenstein until the end of their lives.
All three had been teachers at the convent school since the 1960s, so when we hear about “former students”, we’re talking about hundreds, maybe thousands, of Salzburg’s finest citizens. Including locksmiths.
When we talk about “Church authorities”, that’s a different group of folks. The ones who changed the locks and turned off the water and electricity.
I wasn’t raised Catholic, but a few of the boys in my neighborhood attended St. Anthony Catholic School. Reports of discipline administered by the nuns were not consistently favorable. But my friends may have been exaggerating. School-age boys occasionally exaggerate, for dramatic effect. As we know.
The three Salzburg nuns, who illegally — but ethically — broke back into their promised lifetime home, are apparently loved by their former students.
One of the students, Sophie Tauscher, stated that, in her opinion, the nuns belong at the convent. From the BBC article:
“Goldenstein without the nuns is just not possible. When they need us, they just have to call us and we will be there, for sure. The nuns here changed so many lives in such a good way.”
Videos of the nuns have been posted on Instagram, at prayer, at Mass, at lunch and climbing down the steep staircase.
We can assume that the Instagram videos were handled by former students. But maybe nuns are active on social media these days? Like I said, I’m not Catholic, so I wouldn’t know.
Apparently, Church authorities had the convent’s stair-lift ripped out after the nuns were evicted. Thus, the climbing down the steep staircase.
The nuns are reportedly happy to be back home, but Church authorities are not happy. Provost Markus Grasl from Reichersberg Abbey, the nuns’ superior, issued a statement claiming the nuns’ decision to return to the convent was “completely incomprehensible”.
Seems that the meaning of the word “incomprehensible” is subject to interpretation, among Catholics in Austria.
The Austrian news media has been covering this story, of course. (How could they not cover it?) I’ve accessed some of those news stories, which are unfortunately written in German, and several of them refer the phrase:
…zahlt rund 64.000 Euro an Sozialhilfe für die drei Nonnen des Klosters Goldenstein zurück.
Which, translated, implies that the Church authorities will have to repay 64,000 Euros (US$74,000) received from Austrian social services on behalf of the nuns. But I don’t read German, so take this information with a grain of salt. Also, we don’t know if any of that money accrued to the nuns themselves.
In related news, the nuns’ Instagram account now has 70,000 followers. One of the video postings shows Sister Rita getting boxing lessons.
Might be useful, if the Church authorities come knocking.
Globally, nuns are an endangered species, due to some of the same environmental and social impacts that have put other species at risk. Mostly, though, the reluctance of young women to take a vow of poverty, chastity, and service to humanity. And obedience to Church authorities.
It’s probably the vow of obedience that’s hardest swallow these days. As demonstrated by the Salzburg nuns.
The Kloster Goldenstein convent and school was once home to numerous Sisters, but the number had dwindled over the past 60 years. If you’re interested in the reasons behind those dwindling numbers — worldwide — reporter Jo Piazza wrote an intriguing story for TIME, titled “The Great Nunquisition”.
Now, at the re-occupied convent, electricity and water connections have been partially restored… supporters are bringing food and groceries… and the three have been seen by doctors.
And they are getting boxing lessons.
The three nuns say they are determined to stay.
“Before I die in that old people’s home, I would rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way,” said Sister Bernadette.
What I said, about my hat being off.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.