BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | August 11, 2005
The Vatican, in a blow to the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has concluded that archdiocesan officials erred in claiming the financial assets of closing parishes and must now ask pastors to voluntarily turn over millions of dollars in bank accounts and real estate holdings that the archdiocese had planned to take.
The archdiocese said yesterday that it is working with the Vatican and with local priests and finance council members to limit the repercussions of the development and said the Vatican is otherwise supportive of the process of closings pursued by the archdiocese and of the individual closing decisions made by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley. But the archdiocese acknowledged that the decision is unwelcome and poses a complication in O'Malley's effort to restore the troubled archdiocese to financial health.
Critics of the parish closing process said the development vindicates their argument, put forward in several lawsuits in civil courts, as well as in appeals to the Vatican, that the archdiocese has mishandled the overall closings process and is violating church and civil law by taking as much as several hundred million dollars in cash donated and real estate funded by faithful Catholics over many generations.
The archdiocese acknowledged the Vatican's decision in response to questions from reporters. ...
Three American dioceses -- Portland, Ore., Spokane, Wash., and Tucson -- have filed for bankruptcy and have tried to limit the assets that can be claimed by creditors by arguing in court filings that the assets of parishes belong to parishioners and not to the dioceses. Several Boston-area parishes sent appeals to the Vatican, arguing that it was unreasonable for O'Malley to claim ownership of parish assets at the same time Western bishops were claiming they don't control parish assets.
It is not clear whether a desire to help protect the bankrupt dioceses prompted the Vatican to insist that the Archdiocese of Boston does not control the assets of its closed parishes, but Boston church officials and pastors said that, in the past, the archdiocese here has closed parishes and taken their assets without objection. They also said the Vatican has helped design the solution of asking pastors to sign money over to the archdiocese, which would comply with canon law but also allow the archdiocese the use of the funds.