An eight-day online property auction raised close to $1.68 million for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s (N.M.) bankruptcy effort, an executive with the auction company said this week, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. Louis B. Fisher III of SVN Auction Services said that some contracts still must be signed, so the total isn’t yet certain. The archdiocese also will pay closing costs of 1 percent or a bit more. The archdiocese hopes to generate enough money through insurance, property sales such as those in the online auction and donations to settle a bankruptcy case with about 385 people who have claimed sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic clergy whom Church officials have found to be “credibly accused.” Fisher said that the auction sold about 140 properties, many of them bundled with others. Failing to meet an undisclosed amount of settlement money in the bankruptcy case could require the archdiocese to sell essential properties, such as community centers, schools and churches. The institution has said it wants to limit sales to nonessential properties, such as the small, vacant parcels in the auction, most of which had been donated.
