The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., will hold another online auction beginning Jan. 31 to sell more parcels of land for a settlement with close to 400 victims of clergy abuse, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. No settlement has been reached since the archdiocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy three years ago. The archdiocese hopes to raise enough money through property sales, donations, insurance and other methods to work out a group settlement, so each victim isn’t addressed in separate lawsuits. The online auction will conclude Feb. 7. The auction’s website, www.ASFbankruptcyauction.com, will be available on Jan. 3 and will list the parcels involved. SVN Auction Services of Florida and Louisiana will oversee the auction, as it did the first one in September. That auction generated about $1.4 million for the archdiocese, said Louis Fisher III of SVN, although officials are still closing on some of the transactions. Attorney Aaron Boland of Santa Fe, who represents one of the victims, said the archdiocese’s insurance policies — and how much insurance companies will pay out — are a much bigger matter than the auctions. Fisher said the second auction would include 427 properties packaged into 80 bundles in 16 New Mexico counties. He said he hoped the archdiocese could generate $2 million to $4 million, but that it was hard to estimate.
