Local nuns get evicted to pay priest sex abuse settlement

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

For the past 55 years, the nuns who reside at Sisters of Bethany’s Convent on Santa Barbara’s east side have lived modest lives in their two-and-a-half bedroom home next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.
But for the past week, photographers, reporters and droves of community members have visited the three nuns who live at there. The visits aren’t on account of the commendable work the sisters do with the poor, but rather are tied to the shadow of sexual abuse inflicted by pedophile priests that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church for years.

And though the three resident nuns had nothing to do with the scandal, its impacts are so wide reaching and so costly, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have informed the nuns that they intend to sell their Nopal Street home in order to help pay a $660 million priest sex abuse settlement.
But if Sister Angela Escalera, the superior of Sisters of Bethany house, and a mix of ambitious community members have their way, the home will be sold to the nuns.
“We have worked here forever,” said Escalera, who has lived at the convent since 1964. “The outpouring is so overwhelming. We are getting offers of help from people all over Santa Barbara.”
Escalera said a woman offered to sell her second home in Texas to help the nuns purchase their home, which some estimate is worth as much as $700,000.
J.L. Taft, a longtime supporter of the sisters, walked into Escalera’s office yesterday and told her he would planned to write a $1,000 check.
“I go way back with these people,” Taft said of the nuns. “I think it’s a crime. I’m thoroughly disgusted with the whole church.”
Escalera told a Daily Sound reporter about Taft’s aunt, Emily Dover, who became a sort of unofficial caretaker of the nuns when they moved into their current location in 1952.
She said Dover brought the sisters two dozen eggs each week for 30 years.
“She’d roll over in her grave,” Taft said of his late aunt if she knew of the proposed sale.
As Escalera, 69, who is partially disabled, sat in her office yesterday facing a wall lined with Notre Dame Football memorabilia, she talked about her disappointment with the way the eviction notice has been handled.
She said she received a call on on Aug. 28 from the Bethany Sisters’ Provincial Superior in Los Angeles, who said a letter arrived from the Archdiocese that day. Escalera said the superior read her the letter, which was faxed to Santa Barbara the following day.
“I just told the sisters ‘We’re in God’s hands,’” Escalera said of informing her fellow sisters of the letter. “If we’re met to stay we’ll stay, if not then we won’t.
“It’s the way it was done that was just unbelievable.”
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles insists the letter was written on June 28 and Sisters of Bethany’s Provincial Superior was informed of the eviction at that time.
“The Archdiocese assumed that the Provincial Superior, in fulfilling her responsibilities, would contact the members of her community in Santa Barbara to explore options for her sisters to remain in Santa Barbara, or to move to existing convents owned by their religious community in Oxnard and Los Angeles,” a statement released yesterday by the Archdiocese said. “For reasons which still are not clear, the Provincial Superior did not communicate with the Sisters in Santa Barbara until August.”
But Escalera insists that her superior did not know of the eviction until the end of August when the letter reportedly arrived.
“In my heart I know they are lying,” Escalera said of the Archdiocese’ claim. “Sister [Escalera’s superior] is responsible and she did call me immediately when she got it. They’re just looking for something to attack.”
Due to the delay in the letter’s arrival, Escalera said she and Sister Margarita Antonia Gonzalez, 49, and Sister Consuelo Cardenas, 55,, who also live at the convent, now only have four months to vacate their longtime home.
But despite the short notice, community members hope to form a nonprofit at a meeting tonight inside the convent.
“They’re a big asset to this community, so we need to take care of them so this problem does not arise again,” said Anthony Dal Bello, a longtime friend of the nuns who was an altar boy at Our Lady of Guadalupe. “We welcome everybody’s help since they’ve helped everyone. It’s time for the community to come to their assistance; Jews, Catholics, non Catholics, everyone.”
Dal Bello said he received 35 e-mails yesterday from people all over the state requesting information about how they can help the sisters remain in Santa Barbara.
Ernie Salomon, who also helped organize tonight’s meeting, said the Archdiocese's decision to sell the property out of line with Jesus Christ, or any religious leader’s teachings.
“It really gauls me that the pope comes out while he’s in Austria and the headline in the LA Times says ‘the pope was asking his fellow man to do more with charity work’ and they do this to these nuns,” Salomon said.
For now the sisters will do their best to continue their work while a possible sale looms.
Since hearing about the eviction nearly two weeks ago, Escalera said she’s gone from feeling “numb” to “overwhelmed” with the support from the community.
But what really eats at Salomon is the fact that three of Santa Barbara’s nuns are paying for the sins of male sex offenders.
“They’re being punished because they’re the weakest target,” Salomon said. “While the bishop is continuing to live in his mansion with his servants.
“It’s very sad that something like this can happen.”
Dal Bello said those who want to donate money to the sisters should send checks to:
Sisters of Bethany
215 N. Nopal St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101