Tuesday, May 10, 2005
ONE DIOCESE SELLS ALL OF ITS PROPERTY TO PAY ABUSE CLAIMS
From CNN.com
The Catholic Diocese of St. George's will sell about 150 properties to raise $10.5 million as part of a settlement for the victims of the Rev. Kevin Bennett, who was convicted in 1990 of hundreds of sexual assaults during three decades as a priest in the province of Newfoundland.
"All of the churches, all of the parish houses, all the missions," will be sold, Bishop Douglas Crosby said. Forty properties, apparently cemeteries, weren't part of the deal.
The organization was appealing to its 32,000 parishioners for donations to buy back core properties when they go on sale in the coming months. "What we're hoping is we can save, or repurchase, one-third of them," Crosby said.
Bennett admitted his guilt and was sentenced to four years in prison in the early 1990s. Now retired and in his 70s, he continues to draw a church pension while living on a family property.
