Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Making the Best of It: BC's Bailout of Boston Achdiocese to Benefit Baseball

Today's USA Today discusses the sale of church lands to finance abuse settlements, with specific focus given to Boston College announcing a $1.6 billion strategic investment plan with a $400 million dollar development of property that it purchased from the Archdiocese of Boston, which the Archdiocese sold to help finance abuse settlements.


I was contacted based on on a law review article I drafted on religious retirement funds, and possible implications of the same from abuse settlements ("Surviving Exemption: Should the Church Exemption to ERISA Still Be in Effect?" 11 Elder Law Journal, 395-424, 2003), since churches are exempt from ERISA, and as such, are not required to segregate its retirement funds. Exciting stuff, sports fans!

Instead of the Archdiocese of Boston selling property (specifically, 65 acres and 14 buildings in Brighton, Mass.) to a condominium or shopping mall developer, the Church sold the property to neighboring Boston College, the Jesuit university across Commonwealth Avenue.

This morning, BC announced a development plan that will, among other things, boost its athletic profile with the construction of four athletic fields, an athletics center, and a new baseball stadium.

While the abuse crisis has damaged the Catholic Church and its flock, this is a nice story on how the victims are receiving compensation, with an ancillary benefit to the student-athletes of a Catholic institution of higher learning.

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