Ten years ago, Maria Jesus Galan’s Santa Domingo el Real convent got a computer. Aside from helping the nuns simplify their lives, for instance, by removing trips into the city with the help of online banking, Galan felt the computer provided other beneficial services, such as digitizing the convent’s archives and using Facebook to help spread the good word. Her digital efforts were apparently so worthwhile, that the local government recognized her for said efforts, which garnered her more Facebook friends, which in turn, spiked her digital popularity and got her booted from the convent because her fellow nuns felt her Facebook activity “made life impossible.”
While she was still in the convent, Galan had about 600 Facebook friends. After her ousting, her community had grown to over 5,000. After she was forced out of the convent, she moved in with her mother and is planning on exploring the world, as living in the convent made that dream impossible. The Dominican order has refused to comment, calling it “an internal matter.”
(The Telegraph via CNET ia Gizmodo)
Published: Feb 20, 2011 02:00 pm