The iconic Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, will be mortgaged by the local archdiocese to help it pay off settlements to priests’ sexual abuse victims.
Archbishop John C. Wester laid out the plan in a letter to parishes earlier this month, reported the Albuquerque Journal.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, known as the “mother church” of the archdiocese, and any other properties that are mortgaged will not be lost because parishes will chip in to cover the payments on the debt, Wester said in his June 17 letter.
Parishes will collectively need to borrow up to $12 million to cover the gap in the archdiocese’s $75 million share of the bankruptcy settlement, according to the letter. The archdiocese is asking each parish to pay up to $691 a month on the debt, or up to $104,727 total. […]
Representatives for clergy sex abuse survivors and the archdiocese announced in mid-May that they’d agreed to a $121.5 million fund to compensate hundreds of people who say they suffered childhood sexual abuse by priests and other clergy dating back to the 1990s.
The newspaper reported the archdiocese must pay $65 million by late September, and the remaining $10 million by March 2023.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Cathedral Basilica was built in the 1800s. Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 elevated the church to basilica status.
Cathedral Basilica arguably is the most recognizable building in Santa Fe, with the possible exception La Fonda Hotel a short distance away.
Both are very close to the original alignment of Route 66 in the city, known as the Santa Fe Loop, before the highway was realigned and shortened during the late 1930s.
(Image of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assissi in Santa Fe, New Mexico, via Wikicommons)
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Would it not be better to demolish the church, and build a non-religious structure in its place? Who wants to have to drive by and be reminded of the horrendous crimes associated with it? “The elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two teachers last month will be demolished, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday.”