BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press
Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has structural assets in Vermont worth more than $405 million, according to an insurance appraisal of church-owned buildings performed for the diocese.
The appraisal indicates that 52 of the 128 diocesan parishes in the state have church facilities valued at more than $1 million apiece. Burlington, the home base of the diocese, has church-owned buildings worth $62.8 million.
A copy of the appraisal was obtained by The Burlington Free Press from court records collected in anticipation of the trial in the first of 19 cases pending in Chittenden Superior Court involving claims by alleged victims of priest sexual abuse.
The appraisal was conducted in 2004 by Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. of Itasca, Ill. The appraisal was conducted to determine the replacement cost of each of the 610 buildings the church owns in the state. The figures do not include the value of the land on which the buildings sit.