EWTN News, Dec 2, 2025 /
09:14 am
An attempt at an amicable solution in the conflict over Goldenstein Monastery in Austria has failed: The three elderly Augustinian nuns have rejected a compromise offer from their religious superior, Father Markus Grasl, provost of Reichersberg Abbey. Now Rome is expected to decide.
“We are surprised and disappointed by the sisters’ decision. What Grasl already said is coming true: Now the next authority, namely Rome, will be involved,” Grasl’s spokesperson told the Austrian news agency Kathpress.
The religious superior had presented an agreement last Thursday that would have allowed the sisters, who are between 81 and 88 years old, to remain in Goldenstein. This accommodated their expressed wish, although he continued to prefer placement in a nursing home for medical reasons.
The agreement stipulated that the three sisters could continue living in the monastery — but under certain conditions. These included the restoration of the cloister, meaning the monastic rules for retreat and prayer that include areas off limits to nonmembers of the order. In addition, spiritual accompaniment by a priest from Reichersberg Abbey, 24-hour care, and reliable medical care were to be ensured. Registration on the waiting list of a nursing home in Elsbethen “within sight of the monastery” was also part of the offer.
Just one day later, the sisters rejected the agreement. According to APA (Austrian Press Agency), the proposal was turned down because of the conditions attached to it. Grasl had demanded the immediate “cessation of all social media activities” as well as “all active media contacts.”
Another condition stated that the sisters “immediately relieve of duty all lawyers and jurists acting on their behalf” and permanently refrain from “any legal activities.” In addition, supporters were to withdraw from the monastery and no longer make decisions for the canonesses.
Conflict over Augustinian canonesses of Goldenstein
The conflict over the nuns of Goldenstein has been ongoing for years, as CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported. After the community shrank to fewer than five sisters with perpetual vows in September 2020, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life withdrew the right to elect their own superior, in accordance with the directive Cor Orans.
In 2022, the Vatican appointed Grasl as spiritual superior of the Goldenstein sisters. That same year, the three remaining religious transferred the monastery in equal halves to the Archdiocese of Salzburg and Reichersberg Abbey.
In the transfer agreement, the sisters were granted a lifetime right of residence — but only “as long as it is medically and spiritually reasonable.” After several hospitalizations, Grasl ordered the relocation of the three nuns to the Schloss Kahlsperg senior residence near Hallein in December 2023.
He justified this decision by the advanced age and poor health of the sisters as well as the deteriorated structural condition of the monastery. An independent life in Goldenstein was therefore no longer possible — neither for health reasons nor spiritual or structural ones.
In September 2025, the three nuns — Sister Rita, Sister Regina, and Sister Bernadette — left the nursing home and occupied their former monastery. They received broad social support from around 200 helpers and international media attention, including from BBC and CNN.
In early October, the three nuns continued their legal conflict with the order leadership. Through their lawyer, they submitted a factual statement to the Salzburg prosecutor’s office for the second time.
In it, the sisters called for an investigation of six “matters requiring examination” directed particularly against Grasl, who is responsible for them, as CNA Deutsch reported.
This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by Catholic News Agency.
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Alexander Folz is a freelance journalist and contributor to CNA Deutsch, specializing in faith, politics, and culture. He grew up in Saarland and is currently studying economics at the Leibniz University of Hanover. He is particularly interested in Catholic social teaching, which he sees as a bridge between faith and economic practice. As a committed member of a Catholic youth movement, he is also dedicated to pro-life initiatives. In 2024, he took part in the EWTN summer academy in Rome.
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