Jobs go as convent closes
Published 24 Jan 2012 10:00
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A GROUP of Dumbarton based nuns who have taught thousands of the area's children have announced they are to close their convent with the loss of 34 jobs.
Last week, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur revealed that they are to leave the town after being based there for more than a century.
The premises will now be taken over by The Carmelite Sisters, another religious order based in the town who will move into the building from their current location at the Kirktonhil monastery.
Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit, who is in charge of the Camelites in Dumbarton, declined to comment on the impending move, but the Reporter understands that they have no plans to retain any of the lay members of staff at the site.
The staff members who have been notified of their redundancy are mostly carers, domestic and catering staff. The Carmelite Sisters, of whom there are now less than a dozen locally, are giving up the large, rambling monastery in Helenslee Road, Kirktonhill, which they moved into in 1934, in order to take up their new residence.
They are an enclosed order who were once about 30 in number and who produced print and artwork, altar breads and sacred vestments for churches across Scotland.
And although the Carmelites are being guarded about their future, sources close to the Sisters believe they are delighted at the prospect of a move away from their present convent, which has become too large for them.
Conversely, The Notre Dame Sisters, who are a teaching order specialising in education, last week issued a statement on saying that the lack of recruitment to religious orders had forced them into the move. They are now scheduled to move from Dumbarton to Liverpool, where the order has its UK headquarters, before Easter.
This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 24 Jan 12
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