NOVA SCOTIA (CANADA)
The Catholic Register
November 6, 2017
The Catholic Church in Nova Scotia has recently been exposed to unfriendly fire.
It started when a Liberal cabinet minister introduced a bill to a committee of the legislature to allow the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, one of only two dioceses in the province, to divest itself of assets and place them into sub-corporations controlled by individual parishes. The committee then deferred the bill.
The deferral came at the urgings of Halifax lawyer John McKiggan, who represents hundreds of sexual assault victims allegedly abused by priests.
The lawyer said reorganizing the archdiocese would make it more difficult for abuse victims to receive fair compensation for their injuries. He hinted that the reorganization was simply a way to hide assets in the event of future legal actions.
Premier Stephen McNeil lauded the committee for deferring the bill as the government reviews it to ensure no unintended consequences might ensue. But the suggestion that the archdiocese was trying to stow away assets drew the ire of the archdiocesan chancellor.
“First of all, under Church rules the bishop can’t do that,” Deacon Bob Britton told local media. “And if he did that, then the question would be: How much longer would he be the bishop?”
Britton said lawyers have told the Church that the courts have already determined that the archdiocese and individual parishes would be responsible for any future claims of sexual abuse.
“The unintended consequences that are alluded to are simply not there,” he said.
Nova Scotia’s other diocese — Antigonish — agreed to a $16-million settlement in 2012 to be paid to 125 confirmed and alleged victims of sexual abuse. The settlement forced the diocese to put about 150 properties up for sale and require more than 100 parishes to yield savings.
Britton said the intent of the new bill is to recognize in civil law what is already a Church reality — that each parish is a separate entity while still joined with the archdiocese.
“The claims of a kind of nefarious motives, I assure you, they are not there,” said Britton.
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