By Frank Donnelly
Staten Island Advance
May 16, 2011
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/staten_island-connected_daught.html
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| The Daughters of St. Paul, seen here performing their annual Christmas concert at the Hilton Garden Inn, Bloomfield, are suing the trustees, including Cardinal Sean O'Malley, that are handling their pension fund. |
For 16 years, thousands of Staten Islanders have marked the beginning of the Christmas season by reveling in the heavenly voices of the Daughters of St. Paul.
The singing nuns' annual concert in December at the Hilton Garden Inn, Bloomfield, has gladdened hearts while raising cash for the Boston-based order, which, until a few years ago, had owned a convent in St. George.
Recently, however, the sisters struck a different note: They have sued the Boston archdiocese over a pension fund.
The Daughters of St. Paul contend they have tried, for more than five years, to withdraw from the archdiocese pension fund so they can establish a separate, self-run pension plan for their lay employees. The funds in dispute are not for the nuns' retirement; the order already runs its own pension plan.
The suit, against Cardinal Sean O'Malley, one of the fund's 11 trustees, seeks a full accounting of the nuns' portion of the fund. The archdiocese's pension plan for lay personnel incorporates investments from the nuns and many other independent Catholic organizations. It is significantly underfunded. The nuns have asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to instruct the pension plan trustees to release the financial details or to rule the sisters were never part of the plan and order the archdiocese to reimburse the nuns for their contributions.
The sisters believe they should get $1.37 million, based on their estimate of the value of the fund's assets in 2007.
"This is not an action by the nuns against the cardinal in his capacity as cardinal. They are suing the trustees, of which he is one," said Michael C. McLaughlin, the nuns' lawyer after the suit was filed.
"At first, we just thought there were some problems, it's a big organization. As years went by, and very recently, it became clear that they didn't have the data."
The Daughters of St. Paul is an international organization with about 135 members in the United States, including 60 in Boston. The order runs a publishing house, Pauline Books and Media, which publishes Catholic books, educational materials and music.
The order has about 100 lay employees and retirees nationwide.
The archdiocese maintains it has provided the nuns with the requested information and is working to resolve the dispute. The archdiocese contends the calculation of the nuns' portion of the fund must be determined through mediation.
"We're happy to resolve this," Terrence C. Donilon, an archdiocese spokesman said then. "We are trying to ensure that when they withdraw, that there's a plan, that they are going to continue to provide for the well-being of the beneficiaries of the fund. We don't think that is a lot to ask."
Neither McLaughlin nor Donilon returned phone calls last week seeking further comment.
According to McLaughlin, the archdiocese invited the order to join the Pension Plan and Trust of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in 1989. The plan includes retirement money for archdiocese employees and other Catholic organizations.
The sisters contend they've had trouble getting an accurate accounting because the archdiocese didn't keep separate records for each contributing employer, despite being required to do so.
The order owned a convent on Fort Place and Sherman Avenue for more than 40 years before selling it in 2007.
The nuns' Boston-based leadership sold the convent for $3.3 million to Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers (SVCMC). The plan to convert it into a residence for 59 mentally ill patients drew intense opposition from community leaders and residents and is now "on hold."
St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers purchased the property in November as part of a $38 million deal with the bankrupt SVCMC.
The seven nuns who lived in the convent relocated after the sale in 2007 to the convent at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church, West Brighton.
Even without their Staten Island home base, the nuns return to the borough each year.
Since 1995, they have thrilled Islanders with their voices at their annual fundraiser co-chaired by hoteliers Richard and Lois Nicotra.
Singing both religious and secular songs, the nuns have raised more than $1 million to support their mission.
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