An attempt to find a solution for the conflict over Goldenstein Monastery in Austria has failed. The three elderly Augustinian nuns rejected a compromise offer from their religious superior. The agreement would have allowed the sisters to remain in Goldenstein under certain conditions, including the restoration of the cloister and spiritual accompaniment. The sisters rejected the agreement due to the conditions attached, including the cessation of social media activities and media contacts.
13 days ago
Three elderly Augustinian nuns, aged 81 to 88, have rejected a compromise offer from their religious superior, Father Markus Grasl, allowing them to remain at Goldenstein Monastery near Salzburg, Austria.1 This decision escalates an ongoing dispute that began years ago, involving the nuns' desire to stay in their convent despite health concerns and structural issues.1
The nuns, Sisters Rita, Regina, and Bernadette, escaped a nursing home in September 2025 and returned to the monastery, gaining widespread public support from about 200 helpers and international media coverage.1
The conflict stems from the shrinking community at Goldenstein, which fell below five sisters with perpetual vows in 2020, leading the Vatican to revoke their right to elect a superior under the Cor Orans directive.1 In 2022, the Vatican appointed Grasl as spiritual superior, and the nuns transferred the monastery to the Archdiocese of Salzburg and Reichersberg Abbey, securing a lifetime residence right conditional on medical and spiritual feasibility.1
By December 2023, after hospitalizations and due to the nuns' advanced age, poor health, and the monastery's deteriorated condition, Grasl ordered their relocation to Schloss Kahlsperg senior residence near Hallein.1 The nuns' return in 2025 prompted further legal actions, including submissions to the Salzburg prosecutor's office against Grasl.1
Last Thursday, Grasl proposed an agreement permitting the nuns to live at Goldenstein while restoring cloister rules, providing spiritual accompaniment by a priest from Reichersberg Abbey, 24-hour care, and reliable medical support.1 It also required registration on a waiting list for a nearby nursing home in Elsbethen.1
However, the offer included strict conditions: immediate halt to all social media and media contacts, dismissal of lawyers and jurists, permanent cessation of legal activities, and withdrawal of supporters from the monastery.1 The nuns rejected it the next day, citing these attached demands as unacceptable.1
Grasl's spokesperson expressed surprise and disappointment, noting that the rejection fulfills Grasl's prediction of escalating the matter to Rome.1 With the amicable solution failed, the Vatican is now expected to intervene and decide the outcome.1
The case highlights tensions between the nuns' autonomy wishes, supported publicly, and the superior's emphasis on health and monastic discipline.1
Do Catholic monasteries permit nuns’ use of social media?
Catholic monasteries, particularly those dedicated to the contemplative life for women religious, approach the use of social media with a framework rooted in the Church's emphasis on enclosure, silence, and separation from the world. While outright prohibition is not the norm, access is permitted only under conditions of prudent discernment, moderation, and alignment with the community's vocation to contemplation. This ensures that such tools serve formation, necessary communication, or work without undermining the essential spirit of recollection and prayer. The guidelines draw from key Church documents that address modern means of communication in the context of monastic life.
The foundational principle is the safeguarding of contemplative silence and interior recollection, which can be disrupted by the influx of external noise, news, and interactions. As outlined in Church legislation, the means of social communication—including digital platforms like social media—must be employed with "sobriety and discretion," considering not just content but also the quantity and type of engagement. This echoes the broader call in Canon Law for "necessary discretion" in using such means, avoiding anything harmful to one's vocation or chastity. For contemplative nuns, whose lives are marked by a "more marked separation from the world," these tools are not to become escapes from community life or obstacles to prayerful dedication to God.
Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Constitution Vultum Dei Quaerere, highlights the influence of digital culture on contemplative communities, urging that social media and similar platforms be helpful for formation and communication but subjected to "prudent discernment." They should not lead to time-wasting, relational isolation, or vocational harm, as these would contradict the life "wholly dedicated to contemplation." This discernment is crucial because contemplatives, attuned to interior silence, may be particularly sensitive to the emotional and sensory impacts of media.
Social media use is explicitly allowed in monasteries for specific, justified purposes, always governed by the community's collective decision-making. According to implementing norms, it can be permitted "for reasons of information, formation or work," provided it benefits the common good and aligns with the conventual Chapter's provisions in the community's plan of life. For instance, nuns may access platforms to stay informed about the Church and world, but not through an overwhelming volume of news; instead, they are encouraged to discern "what is essential in the light of God" and integrate it into prayer, uniting it with Christ's heart.
In practice, this means social media might facilitate exchanges of essential information, such as coordinating apostolic outreach or receiving updates on ecclesial matters, but only after careful evaluation by the community. Radio and television, as analogous media, are limited to religious occasions, suggesting a similar restraint for digital tools. The 2018 instruction Cor Orans reinforces that these means must support "formation for the contemplative life and necessary communication," without fostering distractions or fraternal disconnection. Earlier guidance from Verbi Sponsa (1999) similarly permits internet and cellular devices for work or information exchange, but with moderation to preserve the enclosure's spirit.
Communities are called to ongoing evaluation, perhaps in regular meetings, to assess media's impact on internal communication and growth. This includes critical formation in media literacy, ensuring nuns use platforms with "evangelical clarity and inner freedom." While contemplative monasteries bear a heightened responsibility due to their charism, the Church encourages all consecrated persons to engage media ethically, promoting Gospel values amid digital challenges like misinformation or polarization.
Permissions can vary by monastery, depending on their constitutions and the discretion of superiors, but all must conform to universal norms. For example, a community might allow limited, supervised access for vocational promotion or inter-monastic coordination, but personal or recreational use is typically restricted to avoid the "obsessive interest in the form of this world which is passing away." Recent emphases on synodality remind that digital tools should enhance "walking together" in consecrated life, not mere networking, while exercising discernment amid their "vulnerability."
In essence, Catholic monasteries do permit nuns' use of social media, but as a regulated instrument subordinate to the contemplative vocation. This balanced approach reflects the Church's wisdom in navigating modern realities while prioritizing union with God.