BishopAccountability.org
	The Religious Money Puzzle Sunday Business Post May 31, 2009 http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=42111-qqqx=1.asp As public outrage grew last week about the revelations in the report from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, some religious orders were shamed into agreeing to make further reparations for the sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by their members. This new contribution, it has been emphasised, will be in addition to the ˆ128 million already given by the orders. The Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori), which represents 138 religious congregations, last week urged religious orders to pay 50 per cent of redress for victims. Its justice spokesman, Fr Sean Healy, also said that all 18 religious orders mentioned in the report should re-enter negotiations with the government and allow an audit of all their resources and properties. However, there has been little scrutiny of the real value of the non-cash contributions transferred by the orders as part of the original deal. In fact, it is difficult to establish any real benefit to the state from many of the properties. In the seven years since the controversial deal was signed, the original ˆ80 million-worth of property has become ˆ66million,with an additional cash payment by the orders to make up the difference. In theory, this does not affect the value of the deal to the state - the global figure of ˆ128 million stays the same. But an examination of the property transferred reveals that, in many cases, the monetary gain to the state is negligible. This means that the amount contributed by the religious orders to the compensation bill is not much more than half of the ˆ128 million widely advertised. Just one of the properties transferred - a house in Celbridge - has been sold and realised a cash gain for the exchequer (of ˆ280,000). In all other cases, no actual cash benefit has accrued to the state’s coffers. Instead, many of the properties are schools, healthcare centres and community facilities, which will see no change to their status following a transfer of nominal ownership. Nearly all the properties transferred to the Health Service Executive, for example, will retain the same function following their transfer. In several cases, the religious orders will continue to manage the facilities and provide the services following the transfer. Schools The process of transferring the 63 properties on the list (only 20 have been completed) has proceeded slowly, even as some religious orders have continued with a programme of liquidating property assets. In the Dublin suburb of Terenure, for example, the Presentation Sisters have completed the transfer of a school which the state has valued at ˆ4.5 million. Though the state now nominally owns the property, there has been no change in the operation and control of the school. It still continues to be run under the auspices of an educational trust set up by the order to maintain its ethos in the school, as declining vocations reduce the role of the religious in the day-to-day running of the schools. At the same time, the order sold part of the school site, which housed the convent, for ˆ15million in April 2006.The convent building was later demolished illegally by the developer. It is difficult to see the benefit to the state of the transfer of the school building, supposedly worth ˆ4.5 million; but the order’s profit from the land sale is clear. The pattern of the religious orders transferring properties with little or no realisable value to the state, while making a fortune from divesting really valuable land, has been repeated across the country in recent years. In some cases, the property transferred by the religious does not go to the state, but to charities. Some of these charitable grants were made before the 2002 deal but, like about half the properties, were accepted as part of the orders’ contribution to the notional ˆ80 million. A site on Merrion Road in Dublin 4 was given to Dublin City Council to provide homes for elderly people. It is valued at nearly ˆ9 million under the agreement. However, this was part of a larger site which was sold for over ˆ45million. Similarly, a former Sisters of Charity school in Milltown in Dublin was handed over to the St Vincent de Paul, and was valued at ˆ2.6 million under the agreement. Another part of the site was sold by the Sisters for development, for ˆ11 million. Hospitals Many hospitals, though wholly funded by the state, are still owned by the religious orders, or by religiouscontrolled trusts - theMater, Jervis Street and St Michael’s in Dun Laoghaire (theMercy Order), St Vincent’s and Temple Street (Sisters of Charity), Crumlin and St Vincent’s on Richmond Road (Daughters of Charity), Bon Secours, St Columcille’s, St Joseph’s and several St John of God centres around the city. The public hospitals are wholly funded by the state, and the orders have little prospect of realising the entire value of the properties. However, in some cases it is not so clear-cut. For example, plots of land adjacent to the hospitals can be sold. In 2000, the Sisters of Mercy sold the Mater private hospital for IR»22 million (ˆ28 million). Mount Carmel hospital, previously owned by an order of nuns, was sold for ˆ65 million. Land sales There have been dozens and dozens of land sales by religious orders in recent years, netting tens - probably hundreds - of millions. Many are in prime residential areas in Dublin, and were sold at the height of the property boom. One site of three acres was sold by the Discalced Carmelites in Donnybrook for ˆ20 million. (Incidentally, the site is adjacent to the headquarters of Cori.) Like many such sites, it has been developed into luxury apartments. As they enjoy charitable status, the orders avoided capital gains tax on their profits. In some cases, the purchaser of religious lands has been the state itself, seeking sites for new schools. The Department of Education paid ˆ5.4 million to the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross of Lie'ge for 2.35 acres at Beechpark, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Assets and liabilities This raises the further - and now crucial - question of the extent of the orders’ wealth and remaining property assets. It is certainly true that, with an ageing membership, the orders have a growing liability for the pensions and care of elderly and infirm members. In the case of the teaching orders, many of their members covenanted their state salaries to their orders - a highly tax-efficient arrangement - during their lives, and are now completely dependent on the orders. Missionary orders face returning retirees, many of whom require medical care. So the orders’ liabilities are extensive. However, the assets of the orders - both cash and property - are also considerable. Though Cori made noises about conducting an audit of its members’ assets in 2003, little has been heard on the subject since. It is certain that each member congregation has an assessment of its own wealth, though these are closely guarded secrets. What we do know is that their property portfolios remain extensive. The Dublin telephone directory lists more than 300 properties under the heading ‘convents’. This does not include primary or secondary schools or hospitals. Typically, the properties listed are convents, residences, provincial headquarters and religious communities. The Irish Catholic Directory lists more than 250 properties held by religious orders in the state, excluding schools, parish houses, friaries and monasteries. There is no measure of ownership available, and the numbers are by no means absolute. However, they are indicative of the amount of property held by the religious orders. The numbers do indicate that a very great deal of property is owned by religious orders around the country. In 2001,RTE’s Prime Time programme commissioned a valuer to conduct a survey of known Christian Brothers properties in the Republic. He came up with a value of ˆ500 million. This included schools, but did not encompass properties not used for educational or religious purposes. Nor did it include any private investments that the Christian Brothers might have made on the strength of its assets. A survey of charitable work done by the religious orders in Dublin some years ago listed schools in the Dublin area owned by the Christian Brothers, De La Salle Brothers, Marist Brothers, Presentation Brothers, Holy Ghost Fathers,Vincentians, Jesuits,Carmelite Fathers, Dominican nuns, Loreto sisters, Holy Faith nuns, Presentation nuns, Mercy nuns, Sisters of Charity, Daughters of Charity, Poor Servants of the Mother of God, Sacred Heart Sisters and Sisters of Christian Education. It must be stressed that many of these orders have never been associated with the abuses detailed in the Ryan Commission report. Many of these schools have passed to community or educational trusts, as the religious orders withdraw from the front line of education but seek to ensure that their ethos continues. In general, Church-run schools - both fee-paying and free ones - consistently achieve superior educational outcomes for pupils than schools with no religious influence. The Church is keen to retain its influence on education. Last year, Bishop Leo O’Reilly, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ commission on education, told a summer school that the hierarchy was concerned about the Department of Education’s apparent policy to restrict Catholic Church patronage of new schools. ‘‘The patron bodies are the educational providers on the ground,” he said. ‘‘They have served the state well in the past and, we believe, continue to serve it well . . .There seems to be a policy assumption in the Department of Education that every new school at second level should be a multi-denominational state school. We don’t accept that. The Catholic Church is committed to denominational education, and intends to remain a provider for as long as parents choose Catholic schools.”
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