NY Catholic Church Seeks $100 Million Loan To Pay Priest Sex Abuse Victims
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is seeking permission for a $100 million mortgage on some of its Manhattan property to finance its compensation program for people sexually abused by priests, according to multiple news reports.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced the creation of a reconciliation program for sexual abuse survivors in October. The Archdiocese said it would compensate people who had accused priests of abusing them as children, including those prevented by statutes of limitations from filing civil lawsuits. At the time, Catholic leaders said they would seek loans to fund the payouts, which are being reviewed by independent arbitrators.
On Monday, the archdiocese filed a petition in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeking approval for a one-year mortgage from JPMorgan Chase on land it owns behind St. Patrick's Cathedral, according to The New York Times.
The petition for a mortgage will be on the land the archdiocese owns underneath the luxury Lotte New York Palace Hotel, according to the TImes, and a semicircle of landmark 19th-century mansions known as the Villard Houses, on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets. Directly across Madison Avenue from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the land was acquired by the archdiocese in the decades after World War II, according to the Times. In the 1970s, the archdiocese entered into a 99-year ground lease with the developer Harry Helmsley that allowed him to build a 54-story hotel on the property and rent the underlying land for $1 million a year. The archdiocese did not say how much rent it receives for the underlying land, the Times said.
Read more: http://yonkers.dailyvoice.com/news/ny-catholic-church-seeks-100-million-loan-to-pay-priest-sex-abuse-victims/702105/