Judge rules Portland Archdiocese owns all its parishes

Published: 2006-01-03

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- A federal judge ruled Dec. 30 that it is the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, not its individual parishes, that owns all parish properties. In a statement released by spokesman Bud Bunce, the archdiocese expressed disappointment. "We feel strongly that this decision is not supported by the facts or the law and believe it infringes on the archdiocese's right and the parishioners' rights to freely exercise their religion," the statement said. At stake in the decision is the property of 124 parishes, including 40 parish elementary schools and three archdiocesan high schools, whose combined worth up may be as much as half a billion dollars. About 130 claimants seeking damages for alleged sexual abuse by priests in the Portland Archdiocese have asked to have the parish and school properties included among archdiocesan assets available for settling their claims. The archdiocese has argued that under church law each parish owns its own property and the archdiocese only holds those properties in trust for the parishes.

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