SANTA FE (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican
June 24, 2022
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is asking parishes to help provide at least $12 million of $75 million needed to satisfy the terms of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings stemming from hundreds of clergy abuse lawsuits — and one method to help fund the debt will be to mortgage the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
A June 17 letter from Archbishop John C. Wester informed parishes of the intention to mortgage the cathedral in Santa Fe, considered by many as the emotional and spiritual center for Roman Catholics in New Mexico.
“If the market value is not enough to collatoralize the loan, an additional property may be required to collatoralize the loan,” Wester wrote. “Any property mortgaged will not be lost because of the collective commitment of the parishes to pay the debt.”
In the letter, Wester wrote the archdiocese must provide $65 million by Sept. 30 and the final $10 million by March 31.
In order to do that, Wester wrote, parishes in the archdiocese would collectively need to provide $12 million.
“This is beyond the parish cash and sale of parish property committed last year for the parish channeling injunction,” Wester wrote.
“I pray it will be less than $12 million and not more, but it is dependent on other resources we are actively seeking and your continuing generosity and assistance. We understand this will require an incredibly significant sacrifice by all the parishes and in the years ahead.”
The letter also indicated cooperation from individual parishes was critical.
“It is imperative for the whole Archdiocese that each parish cooperate and support all efforts to close out the Chapter 11,” Wester wrote.
The archdiocese, according to the letter, is seeking loans from two Catholic lenders, the Catholic Order of Foresters and Notre Dame Federal Credit Union.
“There are still many details to work out with them, but it is clear they will provide very favorable terms,” Wester wrote.
The letter suggests a “debt allocation” to individual parishes on $12 million to all parishes, which would need to pay more than $100,000 over time or in a lump sum.
Officials from the archdiocese could not be reached Saturday to comment on the effort.
After a grinding, four-year process, the archdiocese in May reached a $121.5 million agreement that involved at least 375 people who accused priests of sexual abuse.
The accusers still must approve the terms, and a vote is expected in late summer or early fall, with the money distributed by October, attorneys said in May.
Though the archdiocese relied in part on insurance money to fund the settlement, it also auctioned some properties and collected donations in the wake of long-running allegations against some of its priests.
The abuse, accusers claimed, went on for years.
It was not the first time the archdiocese had faced such tumult: Claims against priests in the early 1990s roiled churches and parishioners.
Earlier this month, lawyers for the archdiocese and many of the victims told a federal bankruptcy judge they did not see complications stemming from the agreement.
The Cathedral Basilica, built in the 1800s under the direction of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, is one of the best-known structures in New Mexico. It was elevated to basilica status by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.