DeClausura Foundation launches campaign to pay for heating in convents in Spain

The DeClausura Foundation launches a campaign to cover the cost of heating 42 monasteries and convents from Spain this winter: “Many contemplative communities are cold, they do not turn on the heating because they do not have funds.” The goal is to raise 52,000 euros until next March 15.

During the winter months in Spain, in some regions there are more than 40 days in a row of frost and temperatures below zero degrees Celsius that make life difficult for contemplative communities.

Although this way of life focuses “on following the Gospel, getting rid of everything accessory”, through material detachment, “suppressing many comforts”, those responsible for the campaign emphasize that “the lack of heating is a problem, because it implies a health risk.”

This circumstance is aggravated by adding “the humidity existing in old and large buildings, which causes physical problems in joints and breathing” for the members of the communities.

Because heating costs are very high, many convents and monasteries only use it to a very limited extent, which is insufficient.

In some of these communities they heat “only small areas such as the infirmary or the older women’s rooms,” while other common rooms such as the chapel are heated “a little at a low temperature.”

The DeClausura Foundation was born in 2006 within the Summa Humanitate Foundation and since 2014 it has had its own legal personality. Its mission is “to support monastic communities to satisfy any of their needs, bringing this silent reality of the Church closer to society.”