They locked a Newfoundland church so it wouldn’t be sold. Its fate is now in court.

Cynthia Power and George Power of the Portugal Cove South Historical Corporation stand in a provincial Supreme Court room in St. John's, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. They're fighting a court application asking them to hand over a church in their community so it can be sold to compensate survivors of historical sexual abuse. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN'S — A provincial Supreme Court judge will determine the fate of a rural Newfoundland church after lawyers argued Tuesday that its parishioners must hand it over to be sold to compensate survivors of abuse at a former orphanage in St. John's.

Members of a community group in Portugal Cove South, N.L., changed the locks on the doors of the Holy Rosary Church last year, in an effort to claim ownership of the building and prevent it from being sold, a St. John's courtroom heard.

Lawyer Geoffrey Spencer accused the group of trespassing, and argued for an injunction against the occupation of the church.

"We take no joy in making such an application," the lawyer, who represents the Roman Catholic archdiocese in St. John's, told the court. "There are no winners here."

"We're not treating this parish any different than all of the other parishes that had to be sold," Spencer added.

Kyle Rees, who represents the Portugal Cove South Historical Corporation, countered that the group reasonably believed that it – not the archdiocese – owned the church, since it had taken on its repairs about a decade ago.

"This was a substantial renovation," Rees said, adding that the church was being sold for half as much as the community put into it. "This is the community building back a church."

The archdiocese – referred to in court documents as the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John's – has been selling off its assets across eastern Newfoundland as part of bankruptcy proceedings to compensate survivors of abuse at the former Mount Cashel orphanage, which was run by the Christian Brothers, a lay order of the Roman Catholic Church. A Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2021 cemented the archdiocese's liability for physical and sexual abuse at the orphanage between the 1940s and the 1960s.

More than 300 people have come forward to file claims, and the court heard Tuesday that settlements were expected to total about $150 million.

Portugal Cove South is a fishing community about 100 kilometres southwest of St. John's, and it is home to about 85 people.

Rees said the Portugal Cove South Historical Corporation fundraised and rebuilt the church under the guidance of its priest, Father Peter Golden. "They believed they had the word of their parish priest that this was their church," Rees said. "And they acted on that belief."

Spencer said the Roman Catholic archdiocese has owned the building for more than 50 years, and continues to pay its insurance. It paid the church's electricity bills until March, when the historical corporation tried to take over the account, he said.

A buyer was interested in the church, but was dissuaded after the group changed the locks, Spencer added. He said the community group was interfering with the archdiocese's obligation to compensate survivors.

Justice Garrett Handrigan must grant an injunction to dissuade other parishes from doing the same, Spencer said.

Bob Buckingham, a lawyer representing more than 90 claimants in the case, said he supported the application for an injunction.

George Power, co-chair of the Portugal Cove South Historical Corporation, said the group has raised more than $146,000 to restore the building. When asked why the community won't raise more money to buy it, he was blunt: "This is our church," he told reporters. "We will not be buying our church."

"We never caused this mess," he added.

Cynthia Power, chair of the historical corporation, said the Vatican should have stepped in to compensate survivors.

"How does two wrongs make a right?" she asked.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press