Rich Bergeron: Catholic group owning Center Harbor properties should be vetted

To The Daily Sun,

Have you heard about a major hearing being held Friday at 10 a.m. in Concord by the Board of Tax and Land Appeals? They call it the BTLA for short, and it's not a sandwich. It's a serious government agency our tax dollars pay for.

This hearing revolves around tax-exempt status issues with properties in Center Harbor owned by a sect of the Catholic Church. This particular sect, the Legionaries of Christ, has a dark history of abuse, some of it occurring on the very properties they received tax breaks for operating. Additionally, their own paid-for investigations have revealed multiple instances of negligence and coverups perpetrated by superiors of abusive clergy.

There have been no arrests or formal criminal charges filed against any of the abusers in this state. My own investigations into the Legionaries featured some interaction with their official PR spokesperson (see www.planbjustice.com). She refused to answer and broke off communication when I specifically asked if victims of abuse who come to financial agreements with the sect are asked to sign agreements that promise they will not cooperate with law enforcement.

The sect has spent a considerable amount of money on privately investigating themselves, but the full records and results of those investigations have never been shared with local or state law enforcement.

The taxpaying public should be asking two glaring questions about this situation:

1) Why should this state — or any municipality within it — allow a religious sect major tax breaks when they have such a comprehensive record of obstructing justice (which is ongoing) and abusing children?

2) How can so many town officials in Center Harbor get a free pass and face no accountability for failing to ever collect the most basic paperwork for so many years of granted tax exemptions (dating back to 2004)?

Rich Bergeron

Belmont