Philly Archdiocese selling off nursing homes for $145 million

The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is selling off its elder care facilities.

Archdiocese spokesman Ken Gavin says the $145 million deal to sell seven nursing home facilities in the region is designed to help fix major shortfalls in diocese finances.

“At the same time we’ve been able to maintain the Catholic identity of those facilities even though they are going to be owned and operated by someone else right now and we’ve were able to guarantee fair treatment for the employees and the residents,” he said.

Gavin says filling fiscal holes was also the reason the archdiocese has leased, not sold, its cemeteries. He says the diocese is still looking to sell off more.

“Mary Immaculate property in Northampton [Bucks County] which was formerly a location utilized by St Charles Borromeo Seminary is something that is being actively marketed as well as the property on Sproul Road where the Don Guanella Village at this point and time,” he said.

Gavin says the diocese plans to move the developmentally disabled men living at Don Guanella to smaller, in community settings.

The money from the sale is being used to fill a $340 million gap in pensions and other long-term liabilities at the archdiocese.

The archdiocese has also sold off the cardinal’s mansion, a shore house in Vetnor and laid off about 25 percent of headquarters staff.  

It has also been closing and consolidating schools and parishes, though there are more factors at play than just finances for those decisions.  The diocese also considers school enrollments, parish attendance, the number of available priests, the age of facilities as well as demographic trends.