Two Irish hermit nuns received public donations of more than € 77,000 ($ 93,300) to develop a new residential complex after a court ordered them to leave West Cork for attending a Dail exorcism that violated coronavirus guidelines.
Mother Irene Gibson, who belongs to the Carmelite Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus group, and her colleague, Sister Anne Marie, of New Zealand, were forced to leave their complex after attending the religious event in Dublin last December. The Dail, based in the Irish capital, is the Irish lower house of the Oireachtas, which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish legislature. Dail consists of 160 members.
An online video showed the exorcism and a mass at the Herbert Park in the capital that followed. The event was held on December 8, when traveling in Ireland was prohibited unless it was considered essential – for example, for medical care or to buy groceries. Although the government at the time limited open-air meetings to 15 people, about 70 attended exorcism, the irish examiner reported.
After Mother Irene and sister Anne Marie were seen at the event that promised to remove the evil spirits from Dublin’s Leister House, they were told to leave their Corran South complex, near the village of Leap, in June 2021. The former garden center was purchased in 2016 and, without planning permission, Mother Gibson developed a two-story oratory and seven cocoons or wooden sheds for the two nuns to live in. In 2019, she was convicted of violating planning regulations. After their hermitage was demolished by the Cork County Council, the two women are now living in two garden sheds, 3 by 8 feet long, according to the GoFundMe page.
“Carmelite nuns are in urgent need of help!” The GoFundMe page was launched at the end of last year and hopes to raise € 85,000 for the transfer of women to a new complex – on Monday morning, it had raised € 77,830.
The page features a video appeal of the two women, first shared in January 2021. In it, Mother Irene says: “We know that God takes good from evil and he is always with us.
“And we are very encouraged by the fact that you are also with us to support us spiritually, morally and financially.”
Sister Anne Marie adds: “Jesus has great things in store for us”.
“We urgently need funds to buy a suitable property so that we can continue our Contemplative Life of prayer in the silence of solitude and in the Community for you, your family and all peoples. Please send us what you can. God bless and reward you, “added the nuns on their GoFundMe page.
Mother Irene was contacted by Newsweek to comment.
Leon Neal / Getty