And another former convent in Grey Lynn has just been sold for $4.1million.

Warwick Jordan who runs Hard to Find Bookshop needed a new home for his 90,000 books.

His shop was in Onehunga but the building was sold and the new owners wanted a commercial rent.

Even after he had raised $27,000 on the Givealttle website he still did not have enough to keep going.

So Jordan asked Bishop Dunn if the Catholic church has any suitable property available.

The Church offered him a vacant building in Newton which had been a convent.

It had once been, for a short time, home to St Mary of the Cross, Mary MacKillop.

It was in poor condition but it rent was within Jordan's reach.

He used the money from his Givealittle campaign to buy 2km of timber for shelving.

And he spent about $100,000 refurbishing the building.

The Hard to Find Bookshop reopened for business in its new location last week.

The other convent at 454 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn, is a 1922 Spanish Mission-style building.

It has not been in church ownership for 25 years.

The Tower Group purchased it in 1993 and it has been on-sold since then.

It did have a Heritage B status but that has been lifted

Now known as the Hotel California it has become a boarding house for needy people who are a bit down on their luck.

Auckland Council last year served health notices on the then owner who was given a month to fumigate the building and arrange for cleaning and repairs.

At that time the owner, Rentyn Turner, would not comment when approached by the Herald at the boarding house.

Source

• newsroom.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: hardtofind.co.nz

The 296sq m, two-level building, on a large (1012sq m) site at 53 Wood St is for sale with vacant possession through Rod Grieve and Peter Migounoff of Bayleys South Auckland. It's to be auctioned on December 6, unless sold earlier. Continue reading

On reading Tales out of School: Recollections of Ex-Covent-School Girls, published by the Pastoral Research Centre Trust two thoughts occurred to me: a. that you only realise how important something is when it is no longer there and b. you shouldn't trust everything you read in the newspapers.

They are clichés, obviously, but they matter.

These recollections of 40 women, who attended convent schools between the 1930s and the 1970s in response to a letter to The Tablet of 18 February 2012, make fascinating reading - but as historical documents.

This is because almost all the convent schools they describe have either closed altogether or have been taken over by lay Catholic management and staff, so have changed their status.

My own old school is a case in point; once a convent boarding school it is now a day Catholic school. The nuns have long gone.

In the 1960s and 70s the teaching orders began to shrink as vocations dried up. This means that Catholic girls growing up today no longer have the opportunity to grow in their Faith under the influence and example of dedicated lives.

Many of the ex-convent girls who relate their experiences in these pages echo one woman who, writing of the Sisters of Notre Dame, states, "I remember them now with profound gratitude, admiration and respect."

Another contributor wrote, "Some of the Sisters had a strong influence on me - I asked one Sister whose life was spent scrubbing and polishing the endless corridors if she minded all the work and she replied that her prayer was her work and she was lucky to be able to spend so much time in the company of the Lord. I think this was the best religious lesson I learnt." Continue reading

• Francis Phillips reviews books for the Catholic Herald.

The going price is over $5 million.

This week the owner was served with notices from Auckland Council advising he is in breach of numerous serious health and safety regulations.

Owner Rentyn Turner bought it in 1996, and rents out about 20 rooms to bums and beggars, addicts and the mentally ill. Continue reading

The nuns, from the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary order, argued that Perry's lawyers misled a judge using the document, which had been incorrectly translated from Latin.

The five sisters said that, properly translated, the paperwork would have prevented the pop songstress from completing her US$14.5million purchase.

Continue reading

The old St Mary's convent was built in 1901 for the Sisters of Mercy in Blenheim.

It was later moved to its present location in Rapaura, 10 minutes outside Blenheim, where it has been used as a bed and breakfast and wedding venue.

Marlborough Tour Company general manager Scott McKenzie said the property, which would be renamed The Marlborough Lodge, made the company a "one-stop shop" for luxury experiences and accommodation.

Renovations will start in May and the former owner will operate from the site until then.

Continue reading

For years, Perry reportedly has had her eye on the Los Feliz villa that served as the convent for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or IHMs.

But the nuns chose another buyer and hurried that sale, for roughly $15.5 million to restaurateur Dana Hollister, two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times reported. Continue reading

Much of our conversation is spent talking about school (I went to one run by the Society of Sacred Heart) and people we know before I realise I'm wasting precious interviewing time, though she kindly assures me I was simply making a nervous guest feel comfortable before telling me about her life before joining the Society.

"I'm a cradle Catholic. I went to a convent high school where some of us flirted with notions of convent life, veils and religious names. But by my mid-twenties I was an independent, politically active, professional young woman.

"I was working for NALGO (which later became Unison), had my own flat, a boyfriend, career, social life... I even read the Guardian every day! And yet, deep down, I began to feel restless because I was searching for God. I came to meet and know the Society of the Sacred Heart when I discovered that one of our union members was a sister. That was way back in 1993 and I'm still here!"

Warden of a hostel for postgraduates in Oxford, Sr Silvana explains how the nature of her work means that no two days are the same.

"My door's open most of the time so that students can say hello or if they need someone to talk to they can. I have a mantra which is that ‘God will provide' which the students like and believe it helps for solutions.

"I'm also responsible for the province's website and social media presence, so I ‘waste' a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter! I think it's vitally important to be in these places especially if you're working with young people." Continue reading

Source and Image:

• The Guardian

The former Brigidine Sisters convent, built in Pahiatua in 1912, was bought and trucked to Greytown in December by retired academic John Bushnell to be turned into a four-bedroom home for him and his wife. Continue reading