The century-old, shuttered St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in downtown Raton, N.M. is up for sale. And what a “great value,” a real estate listing touts, with an asking price of $199,500. A dispute over St. Patrick’s and hundreds of other church properties is at the crux of three new lawsuits pending as the archdiocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization enters its third year without a settlement, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The lawsuits allege that more than an estimated $245 million in property owned by the archdiocese was fraudulently transferred to its parishes or their trusts and should be available to help pay claims filed by nearly 380 victims of clergy sexual abuse. Lawyers for the archdiocese and its 94 parishes deny any fraud and argue in one court filing that the litigation is intended to strip parishes of assets that have “always been beneficially or legally owned by the Parishes.” A hearing set for today could decide whether the lawsuits, filed by attorneys for the victims, should be halted pending an appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. One of the victims’ lawsuits lists the St. Patrick’s parcel in Raton as among more than 400 properties purportedly held by the archdiocese for the “beneficial interest” of its parishes. But the lawsuit says that the parishes’ interests weren’t recorded in title or county real estate records and that the $59 million worth of property should be part of the archdiocese bankruptcy estate. Lawyers for the parishes say the properties are held in trust “under canon law.”
