Boston Archdiocese Sells Off Land

As part of its plan to pay off settlement costs from the clerical sexual abuse scandal, the Roman Catholic archdiocese here announced Tuesday that Boston College would purchase a 43-acre parcel of church land for $99.4 million.

The archdiocese’s so-called Brighton campus includes the mansion once occupied by Cardinal Bernard Law and other Boston archbishops. Law’s successor, Archbishop Sean Patrick O’Malley, lives in a modest apartment adjacent to Boston’s main cathedral.

The land, across from Boston College’s Chestnut Hill campus, will give the crowded Jesuit institution room to expand. The parcel is in a prestigious location, behind iron gates off Commonwealth Avenue.

The archdiocese listed the property for sale late last year, and Boston College immediately expressed interest.

“While I am saddened that a large piece of our Brighton campus had to be sold ... I am pleased that the offer by Boston College was the one that we accepted,” O’Malley said Tuesday. “It is good that we have been able to keep the property within the Catholic family.”

The archdiocese and Boston College also reached an agreement in principle for the sale in two years of an additional portion of the Brighton campus. The price for that parcel is $8 million.

Archdiocese spokesman Father Christopher Coyne said Tuesday that proceeds from the sale of the properties would help pay off loans taken out by the archdiocese to cover the abuse settlement costs.

The Boston church has agreed to pay $90 million to about 550 abuse victims. It is the largest settlement between an archdiocese and clerical abuse survivors.

O’Malley, appointed to head the archdiocese after Law resigned, pledged from the outset that he would not use collection money to pay for the costs of the scandal. The archbishop said Tuesday that he was pleased by the quick and highly public nature of the land sale.

“It was very important for us as an archdiocese to clearly show how the funds for the settlement were raised,” he said.

Father William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, said the land would be used for athletic facilities and new buildings.

“Purchasing this land is a major expenditure for BC,” he said. “But it helps meet our long-standing need for additional space for playing fields and other campus facilities.”