PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

December 3, 2020

By Harold Brubaker

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has spun off St. John Vianney Center, a behavioral health facility in Downingtown, where for decades priests accused of sexually abusing or raping children were sent for evaluation.

In exchange for its independence as a 50-bed nonprofit psychiatric hospital, the Vianney Center agreed to pay the archdiocese $12 million, according to archdiocesan financial statements published last week.

An archdiocese spokesperson said Vianney Center officials wanted the mental health hospital that has exclusively treated clergy and religious to be financially and administratively independent “while continuing its mission as a Catholic institution,” and it had the means to do so.

“In turn, the Archdiocese was in an environment where there was an immediate need for cash as a result of its plans to fund the IRRP,” the spokesperson said referring to the church’s Independent Reconciliation…