By Patricia Brooks
The Chronicle-Herald
May 14, 2010
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1182271.html
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| Parishioners leave St. Ninian's Cathedral following morning mass in Antigonish on Oct. 4. Photo by Monica Graham |
AS THE LAST COINS trickle in from the coffers of Catholic churches in Cape Breton and the rest of the Antigonish diocese, parishioners are bracing for the upcoming sale of their church lands, halls and vacant rectories.
"This does represent a big sacrifice for people," said Rev. Paul Abbass, spokesman for the diocese.
It was the parishioners, he said, who "collected the money, had the pie sales and, in some cases, worked on the actual construction of them. So you must understand that this is really very hard for them to let go of these properties."
The diocese is trying to raise $18 million to cover a $15-million class action settlement reached last year with victims of sexual abuse from the 1950s to 2009, in addition to $3 million for claims by six other people.
The diocese ordered the churches to tally up their bank statements, investments and funds held in trust as of Feb. 28, 2009. They paid all outstanding bills from that money but held on to the cemetery funds and $10,000 for operating costs. The rest went to the abuse settlement account.
Church documents show that St. Peter’s Parish in Port Hood was required to send $5,196 for the settlement, while St. Mary’s Parish in Mabou was asked to contribute $113,534. So far, Abbass estimates that the diocese has received about 90 per cent of the money held by the churches. The diocese won’t know exactly how much it has collected until the remaining amount comes in later this month and won’t release the figure until it informs the parishes first.
"Basically what we’re saying is that to arrive at $18 million, it is pretty much a full liquidation of everything," he said.
By everything, he means about 600 non-core assets, described as anything that isn’t a church, cemetery or rectory now in use.
In September, the courts issued an order against all diocesan properties "including but not limited to" those in Antigonish, Guysborough, Pictou, Richmond, Inverness, Victoria and Cape Breton counties to secure the debt from the settlement. Money from the sale of these properties will go to the settlement, and the order applies even if the diocese were to go bankrupt.
The diocese owns hundreds of properties within its boundaries. In many cases, the province’s land registry website doesn’t list the tax assessment for the parcels or even a proper civic address. Other listings don’t include the physical size.
Abbass could only say that "it’s a significant number of acres."
In Mabou alone, the diocese owns about a dozen properties, including the community hall, which St. Mary’s Parish identified in its Feb. 14 bulletin as one of the properties that could be listed for sale.
The hall sits on 11,690 square feet of land and carries a commercial tax assessment of $95,800.
Once the money is counted, the diocese will report back to the parishes with the total and bring along a list of properties going up for sale. The properties will go on the market over the next two years, starting first with those that have already generated calls from potential buyers, Abbass said.
"Some of our properties are along the Bras d’Or Lake," said Abbass, who is pastor to four parishes in the area. These are "pretty attractive pieces of land, in some cases even homes on those lands."
Bob Doucette of Century 21 Bayside Real Estate Inc. in Cape Breton said old glebe houses in some rural communities might only be worth $40,000 or less, depending on their condition.
But, he said, "that one in Ingonish would certainly be a Cadillac, just from its sheer position at the centre of the golf course, and it’s surrounded by national park.
"When you talk something that large and its location . . . you’re certainly in the couple hundred thousand dollar range," the Ingonish native said.
Residential properties will sell if the price is right, Doucette said, but the land may not be worth much, especially in this market.
"Waterfront is the prime and that’s not exactly jumping off the shelves either around here, you know," Doucette said.
And he questions who is going to buy the parish halls.
"It’s the managing and running of these things," he said. "Even if they start trying to give them away, they might have some issues."
Abbass said the parishes can’t be expected to make all the sacrifices.
"You can’t ask the parishes to dispose of everything they own and for the diocese itself, for the central administration, for it to be exempt," he said. "That would not be fair and nobody would understand that."
This includes places like Villa Madonna Retreat, a 24-hectare parcel in Little Bras d’Or. The provincial government has assessed it at $115,600 for commercial, $11,000 commercial exempt, $4,900 for residential and $11,400 resource taxable.
"I want to be clear that there is no exemption for Villa Madonna, there’s no exemption for the pastoral centre in Sydney. Nothing is a sacred cow," Abbass said.
He said the diocese is working to cut its program budget to contribute $2 million to the settlement fund.
"It’s conceivable that there could be some layoffs, but not wholesale layoffs," he said.
The properties are expected to start hitting the market next month, but the parishes will have first dibs on them.
"It’s kind of an unfairness, isn’t it," Abbass said. "But it’s saying (to) people, if you want to buy back your own building . . . we are making that available to them first."
It may be difficult to part with property accumulated through the generosity and hard work of past and present parish members, Abbass said, but the diocese has an obligation to the courts to pay the settlement.
pbrooks@herald.ca
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