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It was all over Facebook and the Internet in Sunday: 54-year old Dominican Sr. Maria Jesus Galan, "Sor Internet" as her community called her, was apparently asked to leave her Toledo convent over disagreements about her online activity.
This is after winning an award for digitizing the convent's archives and facilitating online banking to save the sisters from leaving the convent to do business. After 34 or 35 years of religious life (depending on which article you read), she is now living with her mother.
The convent, founded in the 14th century, only got a computer ten years ago.
The Archbishop of Toledo has refused to comment saying it is an "internal matter."
It is difficult to know the whole story and those of us in religious life with computers and access to the Internet are like everyone else: we can let it take over our lives. One would hope, however, that mature religious could come to some understanding so that religious life can be lived in fidelity and relevance.
She now plans to travel to New York and London. Maybe her departure from the convent was coming anyway – or she is making the best of a sad situation.
Here's one version of the story.
If you google Maria Jesus Galan you can get over 300,000 web connections.
Before she was asked to leave the community, sister had 600 friends. As of Sunday, she has about 5,000 (or 6,000 depending on which article you read.)
I have about 5000 friends, too. I think I know about 365 of them personally because almost every day a person I know well enough to send a greeting to has a birthday. At least 125-150 of these are sisters of my Congregation and about 50-60 are family members, close and extended; everyone else is a friend, colleague, or fellow traveler I have met on the journey.