Catholic schools lose in court

THE SUPREME Court of Canada could be the final step in a five-year battle that has seen two Lower Mainland Catholic schools -- Vancouver College in Shaughnessy and St. Thomas More in Burnaby -- fighting to save themselves from being sold. In a September 20 ruling by the B.C. Court of Appeal, the schools were judged to be assets owned by the Canadian branch of the Christian Brothers of Ireland. Properties owned by the Christian Brothers are being sold to compensate victims of abuse.

The Christian Brothers ran the infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland, where a number of students were abused by 10 staff members, some of them clergy, in the 1960s and '70s. When the organization agreed to liquidate its assets, Vancouver College and St. Thomas More were listed as properties to be sold. This surprised the Archdiocese of Vancouver, which maintains the schools have been operated and supported by local parishes, and families, who never believed they were contributing to the general purposes of the Christian Brothers.

"I welcome the decision of the schools to appeal and am confident that the courts will ultimately refuse to right one wrong with another," wrote Adam Exner, Archbishop of Vancouver, in a September 20 statement. "I am pleased that the court upheld the fundamental legal and moral argument we have made. At every point we have said that the resources to build these schools were provided by local families, parishes, and the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The court agreed they were not donating to the Christian Brothers, but rather to establish and maintain the two schools serving our local communities."

If the schools succeed in convincing the Supreme Court of Canada to hear their case, liquidators will have to await the outcome of the trial. The two institutions have an estimated combined value of $38 million. -- JD