Philadelphia Archdiocese Selling Property to Cut Deficit

The archdiocese faces a budget gap estimated at $6 million, and $11 million in legal costs over pedophilia scandal.

The financially strapped Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia said on Monday it will proceed with plans to sell major facilities in an effort to close a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

The sale includes the archbishop's residence in Philadelphia, a rural Pennsylvania retreat center and a 19-room beachfront mansion in Ventnor, New Jersey, used by vacationing elderly priests, the Church said.