BishopAccountability.org
	St. Bonaventure Is Put up As Collateral for Abuse Cases It's Not Closing, Officials Say By Marjorie Hernandez Ventura County Star April 22, 2008 http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/apr/22/st-bonaventure-is-put-up-as-collateral-for-abuse/ St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura has been put up as collateral by the Catholic Church to secure a loan for a multimillion-dollar settlement in clergy abuse cases, but it is not in danger of closing, officials said Monday. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles officials said six schools, including St. Bonaventure, were used as collateral to help obtain a $50 million loan from Allied Irish Bank. The five other schools are all in Los Angeles County: Daniel Murphy, St. Bernard, Bishop Montgomery, Bishop Amat and Bishop Conaty- Loretto. The archdiocese is raising money to pay a $660 million settlement to the more than 500 victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Los Angeles archdiocese. Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said five of the schools are not in danger of closing. Only Daniel Murphy in Los Angeles will close, in June, because of declining enrollment — a move not related to the loan transaction. "We picked these schools simply for the sake of expedience," Tamberg said. "We picked a few large properties that would together provide sufficient collateral for the loan. The alternative was to try to assemble dozens and dozens of different sizes of properties in a short amount of time to try to come up with the sufficient collateral. This was just the easiest thing to do." Tamberg said the decision to close Daniel Murphy on Detroit Street was made before the archdiocese decided in July to settle the hundreds of abuse cases. The high school has about 230 students and has been suffering from declining enrollment for years, Tamberg said. St. Bonaventure Principal Marc Groff said he knew about the financial deal about two months ago but was instructed by archdiocese officials to not publicly discuss it. "It was not a secret, but this was a business deal by a private organization," Groff said. Groff said that when word began circulating over the weekend about the loan, he decided to send a memo Monday to his faculty. He said he plans to send a letter to parents as well. "It's a valuable piece of property, and I have every confidence that the archdiocese will pay back those loans," said Groff, who took over the school's top position last summer. About 700 students attend the 10-acre campus in Ventura. Groff said news of the archdiocese's financial dealings will not interfere with the daily business of teaching students and running the campus. He said Monday he had not received any inquiries from parents. "It's not an issue for me, and it will not affect us in any way," he said.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.