IRELAND's recession has made its presence felt at the heart of the Catholic Church, with the Vatican's publishing house among those losing out in the collapse of a major religious bookshop. Dublin-based Cathedral Books was wound up on August 6, leaving debts of more than €500,000 in its wake.
The Vatican's exposure, and the losses of Irish nuns, priests and religious groups, are detailed in a creditors' scheduled prepared as part of the liquidation.
The Vatican's Liberia Editrice Vaticana was owed almost €1,500 by the bookseller when it went to the wall, and will get none of this back since there was nothing left in the kitty for unsecured creditors.
Creditors
Other organisations to lose out include the Institute of Jesuit Sources (€161), Carmelite Monastery (€576), Redemptorist Publications England (€924) and Partners in Faith (€320).
Nine nuns and priests are also listed as minor creditors, while 'Irish Estates' is out €28,000, the 'Medugorje Herald' is out €3,700 and Irish religious publisher Veritas is down €11,000.
The total trade creditors' tally comes to more than €175,000, with Ulster Bank owed another €81,000.
The biggest creditors, though, are Cathedral Books Ltd's directors, who are owed €238,900 stemming from their loans to the company.
Cathedral Books expects to raise just over €10,000 from selling its stock of books and cards, with another €13,000 expected to come from trade debtors, book tokens and a bank account.
That €23,000 will all go to pay the taxman, who's owed more than €35,000.
SIC: II