CBC News
19 September 2011
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish may have to go to the bank to meet its next payment to victims of sexual abuse.
The diocese is selling off hundreds of properties to meet its obligations under a $15-million settlement to people who were abused by clergy since 1950.
The first payment of $4.5 million was made in the spring. But the diocese may have to borrow money before the next deadline in November.
“As we monitor it, we think that what we may have to do is do some bridge financing. We have a couple of assets that are coming due, but we’ve discovered that maybe they’re going to close or they’re going to be finalized after the date,” said Father Paul Abbass, spokesman for the diocese.
Abbass said property sales have generated more than $2.5 million so far. He expects sales to pick up after a sluggish spring.
“They were very slow in the spring and the early summer of this year, but I understand that was true across the province. August certainly picked up and September has continued it,” he said.
The settlement was drawn up in 2009 as a result of a class-action lawsuit. It was expected to cover about 70 claimaints around the diocese, which stretches from Nova Scotia’s Pictou County east to the tip of Cape Breton.
By May, however, that number had climbed to about 140. The total settlement amount remains the same at $15 million, so each claimaint could expect to receive less money.
Abbass said the diocese should have no problem making its final payment in the fall of 2012.
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Antigonish diocese sex abuse claims double
Posted: May 6, 2011 4:42 PM AT
Last Updated: May 6, 2011 4:42 PM AT
The number of people who have come forward to make claims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish is double what was originally expected.
The diocese has now heard from about 140 people who say they were abused by priests in the Antigonish diocese since 1950, Rev. Paul Abbass, a spokesman for the diocese, confirmed Friday.
That’s up from the expected 70 when the legal settlement was first drawn up in 2009.
There is no information about these additional claimants — where they’re from or which priests they’re accusing — because the entire process is confidential.
The total amount of the settlement remains the same at $15 million, so there will be less money for each victim, Abbass said.
It’s not clear how much each victim will receive because that’s based on his or her individual claim.
But, Abbass said, the diocese will make its first payment of $5 million by the end of May.
It must make two more payments of $5 million each by the fall of 2012. The diocese has raised $7 million so far, Abbass said, by gathering up savings from all the parishes and selling off a number of properties.
To get to the $15 million mark, the diocese will have to sell off many more properties, about 200 in all, by the fall of 2012.
Abbass said the properties will likely all be on the market by next month. The diocese is confident it will be able to meet the $15 million goal.
The 2009 settlement was reached by Bishop Raymond Lahey, the former head of the diocese, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of child pornography for the purposes of importation to Canada.
Note the May 2011 article: “There is no information about these additional claimants — where they’re from or which priests they’re accusing — because the entire process is confidential.”
Why is the entire process confidential? Why are Catholics not being told which priests have been identified by these 140 claimants as clerical predators? Where are these priests? How many are alive? How many are any in active ministry somewhere? How many children are currently at risk?
This, by the way, is the settlement process orchestrated by our child-porn-importing Bishop Raymond Lahey. It’s similar to the Bastarache process in Bathurst New Brunswick where, yet again, the names of those clergy accused in the settlement deal are top secret.
We are a long long way from transparency!