[Worcester] Massachusetts diocese could face legal action for refusal to sell retreat center
CWN – August 01, 2012
A Massachusetts man [and his male mate] may bring legal action against the Diocese of Worcester, after the diocese rejected his bid to purchase a retreat center.
Alain Beret reports that he had settled with the diocese on a purchase price for the Oakhurst Retreat and Conference Center, which he planned to use as a venue for weddings and other social events. Negotiations apparently broke down, however. An email from a diocesan official to a realtor, worrying about “the potentiality of gay marriages there,” later became public.
Additional sources for this story: Mass. man taking legal action against Diocese of Worcester (NECN) www.necn.com/07/31/12/Mass-man-taking-legal-action-against-Dio/landing_newengland.html?blockID=749295&feedID=4206
[The property has a notorious reputation for homosexual activity and other similar morally depraved activities (and also plain greed on the part of its founder) from its previous existence as the House of Affirmation--a "treament" center supposedly similar to the St. Luke's Institute in Maryland]
The House That Kane Built
7/28/12
outpatientclinic.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-house-that-kane-built.html?zx=a173f60af245a7eb
It isn’t big news anymore when a Catholic Diocese sells old and unused property. The church has been consolidating and selling property for decades now. Parishioners complain to deaf ears and eventually move on. But a story on WBZ TV, Boston today caught my attention.
Apparently Alain Beret wanted to buy The Oakhurst Retreat and Conference Center in Whitinsville Massachusetts from the Worcester Diocese and transform it into a venue for weddings and functions. A great idea as the center has been closed for years. And a sale for one million dollars to boot. A win win all around.
Except Mr. Beret and his partner are gay. Uh oh. And they might perform gay weddings there. Uh oh. Bishop McManus can’t allow that to happen on this church property.
After all the Bishop is so much against the notion of gay marriage that he persuaded the small Catholic institute of higher learning, Anna Maria College, to disinvite Vickie Kennedy as the commencement speaker.
The Bishop decided not to sell to Mr. Beret. In a message to the real estate agent, Monsignor Sullivan explained the Bishop’s position: “Because of the potentiality of gay marriages there….we are not interested in going forward with these buyers. I think they’re shaky anyway. So, just tell them that we will not accept their revised plan and the Diocese is making new plans for the property. You find the language.”
His move may be illegal and Mr. Beret, a lawyer, is exploring how to proceed. I suspect he won’t be at such a loss for words.
The Oakhurst Retreat and Conference Center was once known as the House of Affirmation, a treatment center for priests with psychological problems. And pedophiles. The church had a lot of them and needed to prove to insurance companies they were handling the situation.
It was started by Fr Tom Kane, who claimed to have a Phd in Psychology. He didn’t. In fact the diocese settled a lawsuit, confidentially about Kane’s sexual abuse of a nine year old boy. Meaning Kane himself was a pedophile. And he had just created his candy store. Because Kane, with his phony Phd and his cronies sent there for treatment, kind of made the House of Affirmation their own little playground. Kind of a Club Ped.
A lot of the serial sexual abuse of children in the Southern Worcester County can be traced right to the House that Kane built.
[After the financial corruption of the House of Affirmation's founder was discovered, the House ceased to exist as a treatment center. No charges of embezzlement were brought against Fr. Kane, because he agreed to sell the properties that he acquired with funds from the House of Affirmation (nearby properties which he rented to the House, an inn in Maine, and a condo in Florida) as restitution. He was granted a sabbatical from the diocese to head a paper organization of Catholic psychiatrists in San Francisco (some say so that he could indulge his passions there). Subsequently he returned to the diocese to assume work as a parish priest. When another child abuse lawsuit was filed againt him, he left the diocese to become director of a teacher training institute in Mexico and later disappeared into parts unknown there or elsewhere in Latin America. His priestly faculties were suspended, but he was never defrocked.]
I thought only the SSPX was barred from buying surplus property.