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  Lawyer for Victims of Abuse Seeks to Include Parish Property

By Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press, carried in Seattle Post-Intelligencer [Spokane WA]
March 24, 2005

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Many of the parish churches under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane should be included as assets available to pay alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, attorneys for victims contend.

Attorneys for 58 alleged victims of abuse last week asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to rule that Bishop William Skylstad effectively controls the parishes in his diocese, and that some of those churches should be available to settle cases.

Skylstad and his attorneys have argued that the bishop's office only owns a handful of assets, including the diocese headquarters and the bishop's house.

"Since this bankruptcy began, the bishop has been playing a shell game with the bulk of the real property in the diocese," attorney James Stang of Los Angeles wrote in the motion for summary judgment. He represents the 58 people who filed sexual abuse lawsuits against the diocese.

"Seemingly, any ownership would be better than using the properties to pay the victims of the sexual abuse perpetrated by his priests, employees and others in his diocese," Stang wrote.

Including the individual parish churches would dramatically expand the pool of money available to pay to victims and their attorneys.

The Rev. Steven Dublinski, diocese vicar general, said the diocese will continue to maintain that it does not own the parishes.

"They are assets held in trust by the bishop for the benefit of parishioners and are not subject to the bankruptcy estate," Dublinski said.

In filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December, the diocese listed assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million - the vast majority of liabilities being sexual abuse claims. The Spokane Diocese has few assets other than the chancery building, the bishop's house and some other properties, Skylstad said at the time.

Catholic dioceses in Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz., also recently filed for bankruptcy in the wake of a nationwide scandal involving sexual abuse by clergymen. The issue of who owns parish buildings has not been settled in those cases.

The Spokane Diocese serves about 97,000 Catholics in Eastern Washington through 81 parish churches.

No hearing date has been set on the motion for summary judgment, Stang said.

In past disputes, such as conflicts over whether bishops can close parishes, the courts have generally ruled that bishops control individual parishes, Stang said.

The motion seeks to include 59 properties in 22 parishes as assets of the diocese, Stang said. It does not seek to include any Catholic hospitals, schools, universities or other institutions.

The parishes in the motion are: Assumption, Mary Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Aloysius, St. Anne, St. Anthony, St. Augustine, St. Charles, St. Francis Assisi, St. Francis Xavier, St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Thomas More and Sacred Heart, all in Spokane; St. Ann of Medical Lake; St. John Vianney and St. Mary of Spokane Valley; St. Joseph of Colbert; St. Joseph of Otis Orchards; St. Mary Presentation of Deer Park; St. Rose of Lima of Cheney.

 
 

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