NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > News > Pope orders closure of Monastery after lap-dancing nun performance

Pope orders closure of Monastery after lap-dancing nun performance

Madonna also performed in Monastery

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, May 27, 2011, 7:33 AM

Updated Friday, May 27, 2011, 7:33 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

39 Comments

A former exotic dancer Anna Nobili performed a religious dance for an audience of cardinals and bishops which involved her twirling around a wooden crucifix.

The Pope has ordered the closure of a 500-year-old Roman monastery, displacing it’s monks after they hosted a performance by a lap-dancer-turned-nun and the famed musician Madonna.

Benedict XVI ordered the closure of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem which is home to prized Roman Catholic Church relics due to “financial and liturgical irregularities", a Vatican spokesman told The Daily Telegraph.

As a result its 20 Cistercian monks are being transferred to monasteries around Italy, after it was revealed their “lifestyles” were “not in keeping” with Church doctrine.

The closure of the monastery marks the end of a religious presence on the site, which dates back five centuries. The historic religious site dates back to 320 AD, when it was founded by the Emperor Constantine, St Helena, who is said to have brought back the relics from the Holy Land.

The monks involved reportedly demonstrated a "questionable behaviour and a lack of moral discipline".

In recent years the monastery was accused of courting wealthy celebrities such as Gloria Estefan and Madonna.

During a visit to Rome in 2008, Madonna performed a concert and meditated in front of the relics.

A former exotic dancer Anna Nobili performed a religious dance for an audience of cardinals and bishops which involved her twirling around a wooden crucifix.

Nobili described herself as a “ballerina for God” after swapping her high heels for a nuns habit and being “reborn” by her new-found faith in God.

An official investigation was ordered by the Pope, known as the Apostolic Visit. The findings were sent to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and later the pope ordered the monastery to be closed.

The results in the inquiry were not made public and the Vatican refused to elaborate.
Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, told the Daily Telegraph the monks had been guilty of "financial irregularities and liturgical abuses".

"Their lifestyles were not in keeping with what one would expect of monks," he added.

Nster.com

E-mail

39 Comments

15 - 39 | See all comments

seagreen | May 30, 2011, 11:21 AM EDT

Its not like she was doing a pole dance at the "Golden Banana" It appears to be a ritual dance with religious expression.

Report abuse

eiriamach | May 30, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT

"Ethnic customs"? In the USA, it might begin in one ethnic group, but soon it belongs to everyone. I'm guessing that the nun in this video drew some inspiration from music and dance in the film version of "The Color Purple" ("Oh Happy Day!"). Gospel music comes from the heritage of slavery, the Black churches and work gangs. In the cotton fields, slaves would sing "Swing low, sweet chariot," about hoping to escape through the Underground Railroad. Or "Got my letter to hail the train/ Fisherman Peter out on the sea/ Stop your fishing, Peter, and follow me." On YouTube, you can find "Soul Children of Chicago-- Every Time I Feel the Spirit" or Mahalia Jackson singing the same Gospel song: "Ev'ry time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray /Ev'ry time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray." There's plenty of "ethnic" music and dance at You Tube: "United Society of Shakers - 'Tis the Gift to be Simple" shows what other-ethnic 18th century church dances looked like. The spirituals are common heritage for all Americans, if not the Christian world. The most common theme of "ethnic" American spirituals, of course, is the freedom of the children of God.

Report abuse

gaeilgesdamhsa | May 29, 2011, 06:40 PM EDT

Yes, the headline is completely misleading. The woman is a doing a simple liturgical dance in this video.

Report abuse

Gearoid4 | May 29, 2011, 11:57 AM EDT

Ethnic customs such as dance and song have been inculturated within the liturgy in different continents and this is in line with the faithful expressing themselves within the framework of praise and worship. The video concerning the nun's dance routine does seem pretty harmless and no cross involved. But there does seem to have been issues with liturgical and financial irregularities and other abuses concerning the monks. These are not made explicit and we have yet to hear the full story. But it seems that drastic action was needed to resolve the situation that was developing.

Report abuse

MarthaAnne | May 29, 2011, 10:37 AM EDT

This video does not show her lying spread eagled on the floor in front of an altar or Cross, or doing a pole dance around a Cross. Maybe she did that at another time. As far as I am concerned, this video shows a joyous and respectful dance. I really liked it. And don't forget that for years there have been nuns and priests dancing in a liturgy, and in Africa it is considered almost a necessity to include dancing in many liturgy or prayer services. What bothers me is the supposed financial irregularities in the monastery, if there were any.

Report abuse

eiriamach | May 29, 2011, 09:21 AM EDT

From 2 Samuel 15: "So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet." 2 Samuel then records that Michal criticized David for his dancing before the ark of the covenant. But St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who founded 163 Cistercian monasteries, wrote about this passage, "It is a good folly, at which Michal is angry and God is pleased. A good folly which affords a ridiculous spectacle, indeed, to men, but to angels an admirable one. Yes, I repeat; an excellent folly, by which we are exposed to disgrace from the rich and disdain from the proud. For, in truth, what do we appear to people of the world to do except indulge in folly,... May it be ours also ... that we may be ridiculed, confounded, humiliated, until He shall come who puts down the powerful and exalts the humble, to fill us with joy and glory, and to raise us up for ever and ever" (Letter XXIV, c 1126 AD, christianbookshelf [dot] org).

Report abuse

eiriamach | May 29, 2011, 09:18 AM EDT

According to internet sources, "liturgical abuses" refers only to the nuns dancing around the altar. There is so much in the Old testament about singing and dancing before the altar of God! Exodus 15:20: "Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing." Psalm 149:3: "Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre." 2 Samuel 6:14-15: "And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. / So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet." How is this dancing before the altar "a scourge"?

Report abuse

McSpartacus | May 29, 2011, 08:49 AM EDT

She was certainly NOT lapdancing; why don't you just stitch a big scarlet "A" on her for the rest of her life? This headline is just completely misleading, to the point of being a complete falsehood - and you used an equally misleading still photo deliberately taken from the performance at the worst possible angle to reinforce the misperception generated. Don't blame the nun for performing what is pretty tame modern dance, on what is apparently monastic mismanagement by the monks.

Report abuse

Gearoid4 | May 29, 2011, 08:26 AM EDT

Where is the 'Irish' interest in this story? It looks like the IC in good 'tabloid' style is searching far and wide for stories to display the Catholic Church in a ridiculous light. The pope is justified in acting both as bishop of Rome(diocese where monastery is located) and also as universal pastor of the Church is closing down this building. It seems that the monks were causing continuous scandal by their inappropriate lifestyles. Eiramach poses an pertinent question in relation to the autonomy of the monastery which came under the Cistercian rule. It seems that the Pope initially organized an Apostolic visit there to ascertain the truth of the scandalous tales. The findings were sent to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Pope In view of their damning findings, the Pope in his role as local diocesan bishop terminated the life of the monastery. I think amongst other dubious practices, the use of a cross in a dance supposedly for God by a nun who previously was a lap dancer did not help. I think that the pope correctly is cleaning out the augean stables of the Church in relation to liturgical, moral and doctrinal abuses. This determination is being applied across the board and with no less vigor in response to the child abuse scandal. By next year every single diocese and parish will have to have in place comprehensive rules in place to root out this scourge. I only wish that the bishops and other clerics who covered up these scandals would face the full application of the law, both in it's canonical and secular forms

Report abuse

eiriamach | May 29, 2011, 07:21 AM EDT

It used to be true that the long-established religious orders like Cistercians, who live according to a 1,000-year-old Rule, had some autonomy or independence from the Vatican. The Church approved their constitutions a very, very long time ago. Abbots and their communities decide when or if to close a monastery. How can the pope simply take over management of this order's houses and shut a monastery down? Does anyone know the story behind the closure?

Report abuse

paddyRanger | May 28, 2011, 01:28 PM EDT

After lap-dancing nun performance, BUT it does not say she did any lap dancing on this occasion, it says she was a lap dancer before she became a nun.....what's the big deal here ???

Report abuse

JuneAnnette | May 28, 2011, 11:37 AM EDT

MMLeprechaun & AngelPrecious . . Those who love the TRUTH out of necessity love JUSTICE. You would do well to consider the words of one of your priests and a former IC Blogger who went by the moniker 'Fr. Tim' who spoke the TRUTH when he wrote : “Terrible, unspeakable crimes have been committed, with God's most-innocent the helpless victims. They were abused, beaten or raped by a clergy entrusted with their care. Almost as bad, their crimes were routinely covered up by the Church hierarchy -- perhaps even by Benedict -- and the perpetrators were left to prey on others. Church officials swore victims to secrecy and blamed them for their own abuse in acts of psychological torture. The Church used its self-made throne in society to hold police and political leaders at bay.Until now, thank God.The day of reckoning has arrived at last, and Our Heavenly Father has opened the dark skies to let His Light pour in. No one can escape God's Final Judgment, and let us pray that those who abused His Dear Children by vile act or vile cover-up, will not escape earthly judgment as well. God bless you all! -- Father Tim”***GOOGLE Fr. Tim's article: 'Nobody buying what Catholic Church defenders selling' / Irish Central

Report abuse

JuneAnnette | May 28, 2011, 11:37 AM EDT

MMLeprechaun, How can you abide the hatred in view toward those who were preyed upon by R.C. priests and shielded by their Bishops? AngelPrecious, the truth is . . . it is the so-called "princes" of your church who hate the truth. Christ is the very essence of truth. Your bishops . . your cardinals . . your pope . . who claim to be Christ's representatives on earth are masters of deception. It is they who have brought Christ and His TRUTH into disrepute. It is your sanctimonious bishops, cardinals and pope who have conspired to cover-up what they themselves have denounced as the "worst crime", namely the sexual abuse of children. This they have done on a global scale. The reckless and careless policy deliberately adopted by the RC hierarchy in addressing these issues which placed the reputation of both they and their church above that of the welfare of children is ample evidence that they know little or nothing of the truth or of the 2nd greatest of God's commandments to “love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39) Those who have lied to protect their reputation and that of their church have done so in contradiction to the most basic Christian principles of honesty, transperency and integrety. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (John 7:16) God in His mercy and providence has brought their heinous crimes to light in our day. “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known.” (Luke 12:2)

Report abuse

MMLeprechaun | May 28, 2011, 10:20 AM EDT

JuneAnnette...how can you live with so much hatred in your heart??? May you find healing and forgiveness in God's loving arms...but first you have to want it...you do, don't you?

Report abuse

Ms.Gail | May 28, 2011, 09:36 AM EDT

The reasoning to condem the closure is missing. The fact that they supported worship dance and entertainment artists is connected to the closure only by conjecture. I agree that censure and closure of other church locations was called for, maybe we can excercise some Christian Charity and hope this is the start of cleaning up the problems.

Report abuse