By KEVIN JONES
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (CNA/EWTN News) — The fate of a children’s home is the subject of a lawsuit against the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minn., by the diocese’s Catholic Charities affiliate, which fears the diocese’s planned bankruptcy could disrupt services at the facility.
“We continue to support the mission of Catholic Charities, and we know they continue to support the mission and ministries of the diocese,” Joseph Towalski, director of the Office of Communications at the Diocese of St. Cloud, told Catholic News Agency July 11. “We believe the complaint will be properly resolved through the judicial process.”
Towalski said the complaint is under review by legal counsel and the diocese would not comment on it at this time.
After 74 claims related to clergy sex abuse were made, the diocese made a February 28 announcement that it would seek bankruptcy protection, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
The complaint concerns ownership of St. Cloud Children’s Home and surrounding properties. The children’s home facilities include several cottages, classrooms, a chapel, an administrative building, a heating plant, and grounds improvements including sidewalks, fences, and paved parking.
Catholic Charities’ complaint asks the diocese to transfer ownership of the facility and surrounding area to the charity.
“This is an unusual position we find ourselves in,” Steve Pareja, the Catholic Charities affiliate’s executive director, said July 2.
“While we work closely with the diocese, we are in fact a separately governed and separately run organization. Our separateness comes with obligations — legally and morally — to protect the financial health and sustainability of Catholic Charities and to be responsible stewards of the assets our donors have entrusted to us.”
The lawsuit filing reflected those responsibilities, according to Pareja.
Beginning in 2014, diocesan officers had committed to transfer to Catholic Charities the St. Cloud Children’s Home and surrounding property. Relying on that commitment, Catholic Charities said, it had incurred “significant debt” to build a new 16-unit residential treatment facility, debt secured by assets which could be used for other purposes.
Pareja said the issue had been under “active discussion” for almost four years and the diocese’s bankruptcy announcement gave new urgency to resolving the situation.
“If this issue is to be settled, it is on us to move a resolution forward and to do so with the assistance of the court,” he said.
Catholic Charities stopped providing residential treatment services at the facility in May 2017. However, it provides youth behavior health services in day-treatment programs at the location. It aims to continue these services amid the diocese’s bankruptcy filing.
The Catholic Charities affiliate describes itself as “a nonprofit organization that advances the charitable and social mission of the Diocese of St. Cloud.” The diocesan chancellor, Jane Marrin, is listed on its website as a 2018 board member.
Pareja explicitly rejected any characterization of the lawsuit as a legal tactic to shelter diocesan or Church-related assets in anticipation of bankruptcy hearings.
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