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	Diocesan Downsizing By Amanda Van Benschoten The Sunday Challenger [Covington KY] June 19, 2005 Catholic Center Land Valued at $13 Million COVINGTON - Financial woes have prompted the Diocese of Covington to move its headquarters from the Catholic Center in unincorporated Boone County to new offices in Covington. The move will take place in August, just a month after the diocese plans to lay off 15 of its 65 employees. In a press release, Bishop Roger Foys said the diocese could no longer afford the maintenance cost of the 50-acre Catholic Center on Donaldson Road near Erlanger. He hopes the move to Covington will save the diocese $300,000 annually. The diocese has spent more than $4 million since 2003 to settle claims of sexual abuse by its priests. It is now negotiating a settlement for a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse. The $120 million lawsuit, if approved, could cost the diocese $40 million out-of-pocket. Insurers are expected to pay the remainder, although the settlement has yet to be approved. It will go before a visiting Boone County judge for the second time on June 23. The new diocesan headquarters will be located on the third floor of St. Elizabeth Medical Center North. The 17 diocesan offices will be moved in phases during a six-week period beginning in mid-August. Covington is the diocesan See city, much like a county seat. Most U.S. dioceses keep their headquarters in the See city. The Diocese of Covington moved from Covington to its Boone County offices in 1988, establishing the Catholic Center in the former St. Pius X Seminary. "(The move) is, in a sense, a return to the roots of the diocese in Covington," said diocesan spokesman Tim Fitzgerald. The diocese only uses about half of the 43,000 square-foot Catholic Center, and will occupy the same amount of space in the new facility, which has yet to be named. It will not be called the Catholic Center. The diocese also plans to add 9,000 square feet of space after the hospital's third-floor hospice unit moves to Edgewood. Marydale retreat center and Cristo Rey parish will remain open "for the foreseeable future" at the diocesan campus on Donaldson Road, Fitzgerald said. He declined to comment on future plans for the Catholic Center or for the 50-acre campus, except to say that the move to Covington is permanent and no decision has been made about the future of the Catholic Center. The diocese owns nearly 250 acres at the site, worth approximately $13 million, according to Boone County Property Valuation Administrator Ron Burch. He said the land could actually be worth much more than that on the open market - the value is difficult to approximate because the diocese is exempt from paying taxes on the property. Another Tenant for St. Elizabeth The diocese will be the only organization to rent space from St. Elizabeth without being affiliated with the hospital. St. Elizabeth spokesperson Karla Webb said the arrangement isn't unusual, however. Summit Medical Group, a subsidiary of St. Elizabeth, also uses the hospital's facilities for its corporate headquarters. Neither the hospital nor the diocese anticipates any problems with access to the new offices. The Catholic Center in Erlanger frequently has visitors, and Webb said the new space should be able to accommodate the same number of diocesan visitors. It has yet to be determined, though, whether visitors will enter through the hospital's main entrance or through a special side entrance. "Whatever configuration we decide upon is going to be conducive to the public," Fitzgerald said. "Just like here: Catholic Center visitors are welcome. A number of people come here on a daily and weekly basis, and we expect that to continue." It's also too early to know whether any renovations to the space will be necessary; Webb said the diocese plans to evaluate the space, which just became vacant. The transitional care nursing unit that was using the space recently moved to the fourth floor. Fitzgerald said the diocese anticipates "very minimal remodeling" will be needed to its new offices. Unlike the Catholic Center, the new diocesan office will have access to a covered parking garage, hospital food services and 24-hour security. "The space is going to be comfortable and modern," he said. "It's not going to be cramped. We'll be in good shape."
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