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	N.L. Diocese Close to Buying Churches It Had to Sell for Sex Abuse Settlement By Tara Brautigam canadaeast.com June 1, 2006 http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/CPA/59205030 ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - A Roman Catholic diocese in Newfoundland is close to being able to keep all the churches, chapels and parish halls it was ordered to put up for sale to pay for a $13-million compensation package awarded to the victims of a sexually abusive priest. More than 100 properties belonging to St. George's diocese, which were never sold to an outside party, will be purchased by a trust set up by the diocese, Rev. Jim Robertson said in an interview Wednesday. The diocese has raised funds over the past year so that the trust could purchase its assets. The arrangement, expected to be finalized within days, will allow the victims and parishioners of St. George's diocese to move on from a horrific period in the province's history, Robertson said. The diocese was the first in Canada to seek bankruptcy protection as a result of sex abuse claims. "It closes a chapter that's been very painful and shameful, firstly for the victims themselves," Robertson said from Corner Brook in western Newfoundland. "This is all part of the healing process. Many communities have very literally felt as if they had their heart ripped away from them, and now to see it being resolved gives them some comfort." Rev. Kevin Bennett, who worked for the diocese, was convicted in May 1990 of hundreds of sexual assaults dating back to 1961. He was sentenced to four years in prison after the court heard how he had plied altar boys with liquor and money for nearly three decades. Civil proceedings against St. George's diocese began in 1989. For 15 years, legal battles were waged to determine whether the diocese could be sued. Unlike many other denominations, which are incorporated nationally, the Catholic Church in Canada is legally incorporated only at the diocese level. In March 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the victims could sue the diocese. The victims accepted a proposed $13-million settlement in May 2005. Since then, the diocese has appealed for financial help from parishioners, priests and churches across Canada, raising nearly $6.5 million. The diocese now plans to turn that money over to the trust, which in turn will buy all of its 134 properties. That will enable the diocese to maintain indirect ownership of the properties while adhering to the terms of the settlement, which required the sale of those properties to ensure the victims were compensated. Gregory Stack, a St. John's lawyer who represented 38 of 40 men receiving compensation, said he was unaware that the diocese created a separate legal entity to buy its churches. "I haven't seen what they're doing," Stack said. "You could have something new out there that's beyond the scope of what (was) decided in the Supreme Court of Canada. And if there's further abuse cases . . . it could be a total legal nightmare trying to sort that out again." To date, the diocese has already paid about $5 million toward the settlement. Another $3.8-million instalment is due July 22. "We're a very, very small diocese in the very poorest part of the poorest province, so we don't have a lot of resources at hand," said Robertson. Robertson said most of his parishioners are relieved the churches will remain in the diocese's hands. "(In) so many of these communities, the church or the parish hall is the only public building," he said. "For every event or public occasion, it's the one thing in their town that says they're not forgotten by everybody." Newfoundland has been rocked by a series of sex abuse scandals involving Catholic clergy, the most infamous of which spanned several decades at the Mount Cashel Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers in St. John's.
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