ST. JOHN'S (CANADA)
Saltwire Network [Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada]
April 4, 2025
By Tara Bradbury
Lawyer representing claimants says he’s optimistic they will be compensated what they’ve been awarded, once other relevant organizations are held accountable
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s (RCECSJ) still has a long way to go to collect the money needed to compensate survivors of sexual abuse, according to the latest report by the firm overseeing its insolvency proceedings.
Still, a lawyer representing many of the claimants is optimistic that, when all parties are held accountable, the survivors will get close to the amount of compensation they’re owed.
The report by court-appointed monitor Ernst & Young details the archdiocese’s efforts to sell its properties to raise the money needed to settle with survivors of sexual abuse by Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel Orphanage and other Roman Catholic clergy, for which it has been found vicariously liable.
Last July, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador approved a $104 million settlement for nearly 300 claims filed on behalf of the abuse survivors. An initial payment of about $22 million was distributed to claimants last fall.
Total settlement claim increased after victims’ appeal
Another 59 survivors, whose claims were initially rejected by the adjudicator before the court agreed on appeal they should be compensated, have now been awarded money, bringing the total value of the claims to $121 million.
So far, the archdiocese has raised about a third of that amount. Over the past few years, it has sold 111 properties, including churches, schools, vacant land and others.
The sale of six RCECSJ properties is expected to be completed this month, including that of St. Pius X Church and the adjoining former St. Pius X Junior High, which it sold for $2.3 million.
Province, other religious organizations may have responsibility
St. John’s-based lawyer Geoff Budden, who represents roughly 200 of the claimants, said even after all the church properties are sold, there will clearly still be a significant shortfall.
However, there are other potential parties that may have some responsibility to compensate the survivors.
“This would include the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and various Roman Catholic entities with which some of the abusers were associated,” Budden told The Telegram Thursday, April 3.
There are also insurance policies, he noted, one of which is currently the subject of an appeal.
The RCECSJ had hoped Guardian Insurance Company of Canada would cover some of the settlement, but the court ruled last December the insurance policy was void due to the archdiocese’s failure to disclose sexual abuse claims to the company.
The RCECSJ has taken that decision to the province’s Court of Appeal, which has yet to hear it.
“We remain optimistic that, from these various sources, enough money will be realized to at least come close to fully compensating survivors,” Budden said.
Any ongoing or future discussions to that effect would happen in private, he noted.
Archdiocese seeking injunction against Portugal Cove South parishioners
Twenty-seven of the archdiocese’s properties were purchased by parishioners, groups of parishioners and others affiliated with the the Catholic church who plan to continue church-related operations there, the monitor’s report states, leading into the situation of Holy Rosary Church in Portugal Cove South, where a group of local residents has vowed to prevent the building from being sold.
Members of the PCS Historical Association say the church is theirs, they’ve changed the locks, and they’re not interested in selling it.
They wrote Archbishop Peter Hundt last fall, telling him they had contributed to the $130,000 raised in recent years to renovate the building, and would “do all in our power to stop anyone from purchasing the property.”
The RCECSJ has filed a court application for an injunction to stop the residents from blocking the sale of the church, which the court is scheduled to hear on Friday, April 4.
The archdiocese said in court documents at least one other parish has stated it plans to take similar action in protest.
“In the event such actions are permitted to continue, there may be further challenges closing other land transactions prior to the completion of these (insolvency) proceedings,” the monitor’s report states.
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Three buyers withdrew
Holy Rosary is currently on the market with an asking price of $37,000.
The archdiocese first listed the church for sale in August 2022 and found a buyer, but challenges unrelated to the residents’ protest saw the offer withdrawn a couple of months later.
A second buyer came forward in January 2024, but also subsequently withdrew his offer, saying he had found “red flags” while researching the church, and was uncomfortable with “the obvious concerns and unwelcome that the community will provide, and the fact that the Archdiocese never in fact owned the church but in fact had it built and the land (was) donated by the community…”
The RCECSJ accepted an offer from a third potential buyer last July, but he later backed out as well, citing concerns over whether he’d be able to take possession of the church as scheduled, given the residents’ actions.
In court filings, the archdiocese argues it has owned the church since at least 1956.