NEWS STORY: Canadian Catholic Diocese Faces Financial Crisis

c. 2000 Religion News Service VICTORIA, British Columbia _ The Roman Catholic diocese of Vancouver Island is being forced to sell off land and assets to pay millions of dollars in debt incurred under the tenure of retired Bishop Remi De Roo. Monsignor Michael O’Connell, his voice breaking with emotion, read out a public letter […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

VICTORIA, British Columbia _ The Roman Catholic diocese of Vancouver Island is being forced to sell off land and assets to pay millions of dollars in debt incurred under the tenure of retired Bishop Remi De Roo.

Monsignor Michael O’Connell, his voice breaking with emotion, read out a public letter to more than 450 stunned parishioners at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Sunday (Feb. 27) that said the diocese is considering going to civil court to seek compensation for “a history of bad investments” made over the past 12 years.


The public letter was written by Bishop Raymond Roussin, who in February 1999 replaced De Roo after he’d served 37 years as Vancouver Island’s bishop. De Roo, who has been given seven honorary university degrees, has an international reputation for his dedication to peace and justice causes.

Roussin’s letter said accountants have been brought in to determine who was responsible for making the questionable financial deals “and whether or not it’s appropriate that any action be taken against those persons.”

Roussin’s statement went on to say that “several bad investments” in the late 1980s had led to an initial loss to the diocese of $2 million. In addition, a 1997 decision to buy a property to recoup those losses through a “quick sale” has led to a lender issuing foreclosure notice against the diocese on an initial loan guarantee of $12 million.

De Roo was not named in Roussin’s letter, which was to be read out Sunday by every priest in the 90,000-member diocese.

Priests were instructed to read the letter without comment and to not release printed copies. The only comment that O’Connell made to parishioners was that he has “shed many tears” after hearing news of the diocese’s financial dilemma.

Outside the downtown Victoria cathedral, confused parishioners talked among themselves about who must have been to blame for the damaging financial moves. Others wondered why they couldn’t see copies of Roussin’s letter, which referred in sometimes veiled language to a series of complex deals.

No one would comment on the record. One male parishioner would only say, “It looks as if the s__t is going to hit the fan.”


De Roo has hired noted criminal lawyer Chris Considine as his legal representative and sole spokesman on the matter. Considine said Sunday he wanted to respect church protocol and wouldn’t comment in any detail.

Asked if De Roo had made financial mistakes as bishop, Considine said no. He also said the diocese will not be going after De Roo for compensation.

De Roo, 76, is in the United States on a pre-arranged speaking tour.

“At this stage, all I can say is that the diocese made an investment which has not yet come to fruition,” Considine said. “Investments don’t always work out.”

Roussin, the current bishop, made it clear in his statement to church members that the financial problems occurred before his arrival, that he investigated them after staff inquired about some financial transactions “they did not understand,” and that he is being forced to refinance the church’s assets and sell “vacant land” to pay off millions of dollars in debt.

The statement from Roussin assured Vancouver Island’s 90,000 Catholics that the continued operation of the church’s pension funds, schools and hospitals won’t be affected by the newly discovered financial woes.

However, the statement said “work is continuing to determine how the bad investments could have been made without canonical permission and without proper consultations within the parameters in place for such transactions.”


The letter said no present staff members or priests were involved in making the loans or investments under investigation. It said the diocese will consult experts in church canon law and civil law to determine whether “to hold certain individuals accountable and to seek compensation where possible.”

Vernon MacLeish, the new financial administrator for the Vancouver Island diocese, said in an interview that Roussin wanted to tell his parishioners about the financial problem before they heard about it through the media.

The bishop, MacLeish said, chose not to release copies of his statement to parishioners so they would not get into the hands of the media. “We’d rather have control over this.”

DEA END TODD

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