Nun Claims Pop Singer Katy Perry Has ‘Blood on Her Hands’ Over Legal Battle

Colin Fredericson
By Colin Fredericson
June 10, 2019US News
share
Nun Claims Pop Singer Katy Perry Has ‘Blood on Her Hands’ Over Legal Battle
Convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. (Screenshot/Google Streetview)

A nun locked in a legal battle with Katy Perry said the pop singer has “blood on her hands,” according to Page Six.

Sister Rita Callanan has been in a complicated legal situation with Perry over the rights to a convent in Los Angeles that Perry had tried to purchase.

Callanan told Page Six that her best friend, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, died in court after she collapsed during court proceedings before facing Perry’s lawyers, Page Six reported.

Just hours earlier, Holzman had pleaded to Perry in a Fox 11 interview to let the property go.

“And to Katy Perry, please stop. It’s not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people,” Holzman said in what was to be her very last interview.

View this post on Instagram

#TBT to that time I watered my heart garden with my heartbroken tears. Have you seen it? Link in bio. ????

A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on

Callanan is now the only surviving member of the Order of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary after Holzman’s passing, according to the Page Six. She is 81-years-old.

Katy Perry bought the disputed property in 2015 for $14.5 million from the Los Angeles archdiocese. But the nuns claimed that the archdiocese did not have the right to sell it, as they had purchased it themselves in 1972 and sold it in 2015 to businesswoman Dana Hollister, Page Six reported.

The archdiocese had forced the nuns to move off the property in 2011.

In 2016, the courts had agreed with the archdiocese, and awarded Perry and the archdiocese over $15 million in damages, Page Six reported.

Hollister was ordered to pay the damages, according to Fox 11, after the court found her guilty of malice and fraud for interfering in the sale of the property by the archdiocese.

“We’re trying to get out to the public to say what is being done to Dana Hollister is absolutely wrong, the judge was wrong, the jury was wrong. They even admitted it afterwards because they didn’t get both sides of the story,” Callanan told Fox 11.

Hollister has since filed for bankruptcy although, for the time being, all proceedings have been put on hold.

Before her death, Holzman told Fox 11, “We asked her to save us, to buy the property. She had nothing to do with forcing herself on us.”

At Holzman’s funeral, Callanan wasn’t permitted to speak.

“I said, ‘Excuse me, Father, but I’ve been asked to say a few words,’” Callanan told Page Six. “I started to talk … then he said: ‘OK, that’s enough,’ but I kept on. He then said, ‘I said, that’s enough.’”

The priest conducting the funeral was also not the person Callanan had requested.

“I was quiet for a minute, then thought: ‘No, I’m going to go on, Sister Rose wanted this.’ But another priest got up and went to the organ player and told him to start playing so he would drown out my words … The congregation yelled out, ‘Let her speak!’” she told Page Six.

The convent property, which is a 30,000 square foot Spanish-Gothic home, is now up for sale for $25 million. Callanan’s legal team said Perry no longer wants the property, according to Page Six.

The archdiocese expressed a different view.

“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.”

Callanan does say that perhaps the way the nuns sold the property to Hollister wasn’t entirely legal.

“We asked Dana to buy our property as we didn’t want it to go to Katy Perry. Yes, we put the wheels in motion to sell our property,” she told Page Six.

But she also thinks the way the archdiocese sold the property to Perry wasn’t legal either. Callanan told Page Six that she would continue to fight any sale by the archdiocese, although “how long I can do that, I don’t know.”

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments