Sister Internet

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Spanish nun expelled from order over Facebook usage

A Spanish nun has been kicked out of the religious order where she lived the last 35 years in seclusion after spending too much time on the social networking site Facebook.

María Jesús Galán, dubbed "Sister Internet" by her fellow nuns, announced on her Facebook page that she had been asked to leave the convent after disagreements over her online activities.

The 54-year old, who lists her hobbies as "reading, music, art, and making friends" had almost 600 Facebook "friends"at the time of her eviction and now has fan pages with thousands of supporters from around the globe calling for her to be allowed back into the order.

A computer was first brought onto the premises of the 14th century Santo Domingo el Real convent in Toledo, central Spain 10 years ago after the Mother Superior was persuaded it would lessen the need for nuns to enter the outside world.

"It enabled us do things such as banking online and saved us having to make trips into the city," explained Sister Maria, who entered as a novice at the age of 21.

However, the nun quickly saw the possibilities and soon began digitising the archives contained within the convent's ancient walls and making them accessible to the world.

In 2008, she won a local government prize for her painstaking work scanning the pages of precious texts held in the convent's library.

The award made headlines and she soon had scores of friends worldwide connecting through her Facebook page.

But despite admitting that her dedication to her vocation was as strong as ever she said she was driven from the convent by her fellow nuns who disapproved of her cyber activity and "made life impossible".

The Dominican order has refused to comment on the reasons behind her departure and the Archbishop of Toledo when approached said it was "an internal matter".

Sister Maria, who is now living at her mother's house, said she was ready to embark on a new chapter in her life. "I would like to visit London and New York," she posted on her page. "Such things were impossible to even dream when at the convent."

It is not the first time that the internet has caused problems for religious authorities in Toledo. Last year, a parish priest was removed from his post after it emerged he had used the internet to advertise himself as a male prostitute.

Samuel Martin Martin, 27, posted images of himself wearing only grey underpants and said he was available for sex sessions with women and couples for 120 euros an hour.

It also emerged that he had spent 17,000 euros (£15,000) of church coffers to fund his addiction to internet sex and pornography.

On that occasion the office of the Archbishop of Toledo did wade into the scandal with representatives at Mr Martin's church asking the congregation to forgive their priest "because he was unwell."

Source: Telegraph 

Phrasal Verbs:

"A Spanish nun has been kicked out of the religious order where she lived the last 35 years in seclusion."

kick (sb) out - to force someone to leave a place or organisation

Examples:

His wife kicked him out when she discovered he was having an affair with her best friend.

He was kicked out of his job for committing a serious offence.

Read this previous post about Facebook.