A major sale of land owned by the Roman Catholic Church in northern Nova Scotia to pay for the settlement of a lawsuit in claims of sexual abuse is being delayed until it can determine what's on each parcel of property. Rev. Paul Abbass, the spokesman for the diocese of Antigonish, said the church doesn't know precisely what's on some of the 400 or so rural properties being considered for sale.
The diocese has excluded the sale of core assets, including churches and occupied rectories.
Abbass said 90 parishes have provided lists of land that's available and his office is now determining just what is on each property.
There are pieces of property listed as vacant, he said, but sometimes they have something on them.
"The parish might say it's 23 acres, but maybe 10 acres are graveyard, and another section is an access to the church. You're trying to figure out what piece can you hive off to make sure it's a marketable property," Abbass said in an interview.
"It's not going to be straightforward. ... It's doable but it's going to take longer."
As the parishes search through deeds and property lists, some previously unknown parcels of land are being discovered.
"In some cases the parishes don't even know what they own. We're finding pieces of land were left to the parish 60 years ago, but they never used it. A person left an empty lot," said Abbass.
The diocese is selling the land to raise $15 million for the settlement of a class-action lawsuit with the alleged victims of sexual abuse from the 1950s to 2009. Another $3 million is being raised to cover potential lawsuit costs of individual actions against the church.
Abbass said employees in his office are contacting each church to seek detailed descriptions of the land and they will use that to draw up a list of properties each parish must sell.
"We can't let this summer go by and not have some stuff on the market," Abbass said.
"We have to raise money now to satisfy the courts we are taking our responsibility seriously."
He said the first notices could go out in two to three weeks and parishes will be given several weeks after they receive the letters to indicate if they want to buy back the land for their own use.
Abbass said the diocese has also identified a short list of properties that it has put "at the back of line" in the sale, including several with community halls on the sites.
One of the better known examples is the Big Pond Fire Hall in Cape Breton, which sits on church land.
"It's at the very back of the line," said Abbass.
"But I absolutely can't say anything is ruled out. We understand this is a very sensitive and important situation and we're going to give it that kind of attention."
Blair MacDonald, the chief of the Big Pond volunteer fire department, said people in the community are hopeful the land won't be sold.
"I can't imagine them shutting down our fire department and our community hall ... that's why it's on the back, back burner," he said.
The Casket, a weekly newspaper in Antigonish, its website and a group of publications may also be sold, said Abbass.
"No non-core asset is considered protected. That's a non-core asset. It's not a church. It's not a rectory that's occupied. Given that, it has to be considered a non-protected asset," said Abbass.
However, Abbass said the church will try to take into consideration a desire to keep the newspaper under local ownership.
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