The diocese of Antigonish, N.S., has collected about $6 million of the $18.5 million it needs to pay off sexual-abuse lawsuit settlements. Father Paul Abbass, spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese, told QMI Agency they collected the cash from all 90 parishes on Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia's eastern mainland.
The parishes were asked to gather their liquid assets, take out the money for cemetery maintenance, pay their outstanding bills, and set aside $10,000 for emergencies. What was left over was pooled into a fund for the lawsuit settlement.
The remaining $12.5 million will come from selling off between 400 and 500 non-essential church properties, like community halls, retreats and vacant land. Churches and rectories currently in use won't be affected.
Abbass said selling the assets is the hard part.
"Underneath all the facts, this is a huge struggle for the people," he said.
"It's a bigger challenge. These assets are a part of their communities, a part of their heritage." Land and history are very important in rural communities, he said, because they connect people to their roots.
But the church takes solace from the fact it's living up to its obligation to provide "reconciliation and justice for the victims," he said.
The diocese must pay a $15-million settlement reached last August with victims of sexual abuse from the 1950s to 2009, as well as $3 million in settlements for six other people.
"It's going to be a challenge, for sure, but in the end, we can reach our goal."
SIC: TS