Abuse Settlement Remains on Track, The Casket, March 25, 2011

Abuse Settlement Remains on Track

The Casket
March 25, 2011

http://www.thecasket.ca/top-news/abuse-settlement-remains-on-track/

Ron Martin filed a class action lawsuit against the Diocese of Antigonish on behalf of victims of sexual abuse. The diocese is trying to raise $18 million to settle the lawsuit, validate claims and address litigants who have opted out of the lawsuit.

A Diocese of Antigonish spokesman says the settlement of a class action lawsuit filed against the diocese on behalf of victims of sexual abuse remains on track and that the process is meeting its timelines.

“It is going the way we anticipated it going,” Father Paul Abbass said. “The response of the parishes and the generosity of the parishes in this pooling, albeit very difficult for them, has been very good.”

The diocese has collected about $4 million from parishes and sold nearly $2 million of real estate listed as non-core assets. Non-core assets include parish and diocesan properties not currently in use as worship spaces or as residences for priests.

A website (www.churchpropertysales.info) lists the properties which are being sold. Individual properties are being listed by local realtors and include a short description and a link to the information page on www.realtor.ca.

Several Antigonish area proper-ties have been sold, or placed for sale. Properties in Bayfield and St. Josephs are the most recent ones added to the list.

A 40-acre Bayfield Beach Road property associated with Immaculate Conception parish in Heatherton is listed at $1.2 million. The property has been subdivided into 15 different lots.

In St. Josephs there are five lots, each listed for $35,000, for sale. The lots lie next to and near St. Joseph church.

A 4.3 acre lot located on Silverwood Drive within the town of Antigonish and 30 acres in Georgeville are listed on the website as being sold. The Silverwood property, which is next to the bishop’s residence, was listed for $325,000. The acreage in Georgeville was listed for $16,500.

The website lists diocesan properties for sale by county. A 28-acre commercial property on Grand Lake Road, Sydney is the most expensive property listed at $1.9 million.

Father Abbass said the Sydney property was associated with St. Augustine Parish.

Other notable properties already sold include the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Sydney, the former Holy Redeemer church hall, a house and lots in Northside East Bay and a former convent in Pictou.

The pastoral centre sold for $289,900 and the church hall, deemed as excess by the parish, was sold to a group of Muslims who will convert the space into a mosque. The Pictou convent is being converted into residential space.

“The real estate sales have gone very well,” Father Abbass said. “January and February were slow but we were told to expect that the market is not strong at that time of year but things have picked up. Sales continue and we are optimistic that if this trend continues that we should be able to meet our goals.”

The diocese is hoping to raise a total of $18 million. They have set aside $3.5 million to validate claims and some litigants have opted out of the class action lawsuit.

Ron Martin brought forth the class action lawsuit on behalf of all persons who were sexually assaulted by any priest of the Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Antigonish between Jan. 1, 1950 and final approval of the lawsuit. The agreement was signed Aug. 4, 2009 by then Bishop Raymond Lahey.

A little more than a month later, Bishop Lahey was charged with possession and importation of child pornography during a stop at an Ottawa airport. Bishop Lahey’s trial is set for May 4 to 6.

In a January interview, Antigonish Bishop Brian Dunn told the Casket he was encouraged by the progress being made on the sale of properties.

“This year we will have to pay about 6 or 7 million dollars and we will have most of that by November,” Bishop Dunn said.

“We are very optimistic. Since the fall we have had quite a number of sales of large pieces of land so there are some good things happening there. You are talking about 400 pieces of property so it is a huge land sale for not only the diocese but one of the most extensive ones in Nova Scotia and in all of Canada. It is a major process.”