Cemeteries will not be sold to help compensate Mount Cashel victims, says archdiocese

Uncertainty about the fate of cemeteries in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's has been put to rest following an agreement in principle that excludes the sacred properties from a historic and ongoing liquidation process.

Evelyn Grondin-Bailey, a member of the St. Patrick's cemetery committee in Burin, said Monday she was "absolutely elated" that the restored cemetery in her community will not be sold.

"We were extremely happy to get that news," she said.

But lawyers for the dozens of survivors of sexual abuse at the former Mount Cashel orphanage say they won't be as lenient when it comes to the roughly 35 schools owned by the Catholic Church that were seized by the government after the dismantling of denominational education in the 1990s.

"If churches are being seized and sold to satisfy judgments, what about the schools?" lawyer Geoff Budden, who represents more than 70 abuse survivors, asked Monday.

"What about the schools that to this day are owned by the [Roman Catholic] Episcopal Corporation [of St. John's], by the archdiocese, however, which are being used by the government to educate our children? So that has to be part of the discussion as well."

In a statement published on its website Friday, the archdiocese stated "no existing cemetery lands will be marketed for sale" and that cemeteries previously included in a court-approved tender package "have been removed."

The agreement was reached following discussions last week between officials from the archdiocese, legal counsel for the abuse victims, and Ernst & Young, the court-appointed trustee for the archdiocese.

It followed an outcry in some parishes that cemeteries were being included in the list of assets being considered for sale to help raise millions of dollars to compensate victims of abuse at the hands of members of the Irish Christian Brothers during their stay at Mount Cashel in the 1940s and '50s.

The archdiocese, following a lengthy legal process, has been found vicariously liable for the abuses, and is now selling off assets, including the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's.

But in a statement, the archdiocese said, "Ownership of existing cemetery lands will be retained by the Catholic community."

When contacted, Archbishop Peter Hundt wrote, "We have no further information to add at this time."

But Budden said there was never any intention to include cemeteries in the sales process. He explained there are many commercial, legal and moral reasons why cemeteries are being excluded, including the fact they have very little commercial potential.

"Nobody has ever viewed the cemeteries as possible sites for commercial ventures so it was never seen as being part of the estate from a commercial point of view, and it's not seen that way now," said Budden.