Seems Cardinal Roger Mahony has recently completed a little real estate transaction:

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has sold its 12-story chancery on Wilshire Boulevard to help pay part of the costs of a record-breaking $660 million lawsuit settlement with alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse reached in July 2007.

The archdiocesan newspaper, the Tidings, reported the sale in its Jan. 18 edition. The archdiocese sold the Catholic Center for $31 million to Jamison Properties, but will lease back four floors of the 12-floor building from Jamison under a five-year lease agreement.

Last May, before the record settlement was reached, Cardinal Roger Mahony announced that, to cover the costs of settlements already agreed to by the archdiocese, he would sell the Archdiocesan Catholic Center, or chancery, located in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles. “It is only right that the Archdiocese begin this process by demonstrating our commitment to reach final settlement in these cases by selling our central administrative building,” said Mahony. The cardinal announced as well that the archdiocese would sell other “non-essential real estate properties” to meet its share of settlement costs.

The previous December, the archdiocese had settled 46 clergy abuse civil cases for a total of $60 million, of which the archdiocese agreed to pay $40 million.

“I have often said over the past years that God’s grace is more powerful than the evil of sinful actions,” said Mahony in his May 2007 announcement. “Our Church has become more humble, more faithful, and more centered upon our primary mission: to evangelize all peoples in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Following the July 2007 announcement of the $660 million settlement (of which the archdiocese will contribute at least $250 million) with 508 alleged victims of clergy molestation, Mahony reiterated the need to sell “non-essential properties” to fund the settlements, promising that “no parish properties or parish schools will be affected as a result of these settlements.” The archdiocese would, as well, have “to reevaluate all of our ministries and services since we will not be able to offer them at the same levels as in the past,” said the cardinal.

In September, the archdiocese announced it would sell the property of a Santa Barbara convent of sisters to help pay the settlements. The convent house, assessed at $97,746, sits in a neighborhood where, last September, at least, houses started at $700,000.

Then, in October, the archdiocese said it would sell Daniel Murphy High School in Los Angeles, citing the school’s declining enrollment and the archdiocese’s “severe financial challenges.” Parents at the school who opposed the sale said at the time that the 2.7-acre site would go for $25 million to $40 million.