100 year old convent to shut its doors in N.J.

A southern New Jersey convent that has housed cloistered nuns for more than 100 years will soon close its doors.

The Courier-Post reports the Monastery of the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary in Camden will host a farewell ceremony Dec. 9. A formal announcement is expected Monday.

Camden Diocese spokesman Peter Feuerherd confirmed the closure. He told the newspaper the decline in the numbers of worshipping nuns ultimately led to the decision.

In the 1970s, the convent had 20 nuns who alternated shifts saying the rosary 24 hours a day. But by the turn of the century, the chapter was down to seven sisters.

The few nuns now at the convent will likely move to a similar Dominican community in Elmira, N.Y.