26 Jun 2010
The BKWSO Peace Village, a 291-acre spiritual retreat with unconventional Asiatic religious roots and operated by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, receives a full religious tax exemption from the Town of Hunter.
The Peace Village property was assessed at $2.16 million in 2010, with a full market value of $4 million. See below.
The Peace Village property was assessed at $2.16 million in 2010, with a full market value of $4 million. See below.
Pagan sect fights town for religious property status
Cathryn Platine, aka Rev. Mother Battakes, motions toward the pagan priory, formerly the Central House hotel. Landmark court battle looms over recognition of the Maetreum of Cybele by Colin DeVries. Hudson-Catskill Newspapers. Saturday, June 26, 2010
CATSKILL — After four long years of being denied religious property status, a landmark court battle over a cloister of pagan witches is brewing.
The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, a faction of matriarchal priestesses living in a historic Palenville inn, has filed suit against the Town of Catskill after being denied a religious property tax exemption on their three-acre parcel along Route 23A. The property has been denied the exemption since 2007, though the Maetreum — which was federally recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) religious organization — was granted the exemption on 2006. "They refused to renew the exemption without reason," said Cathryn Platine, the group’s leader, known as Reverend Mother Battakes.
Platine, a native of Ohio, has lived on the property of the former Central House hotel since 2002, purchasing the property with a group dedicated to practicing the Cybelline faith. Their belief system — devised by Platine in 1999 after years of study and independent ministry — hinges on the relationship between the natural world, the divine feminine and stewardship of the Earth and its people. The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater is loosely translated as “Goddess church of Cybele, the Great Mother,” according to Platine. It is a goddess-centric faith that revives ancient practices of Neolithic Anatolia, through to the last days of ancient Rome. The group also moved to Palenville in 2002.
In their search for an appropriate site to practice their beliefs, the tightknit hamlet seemed the perfect location for the group. Nestled at the foot of the Catskill Mountains in the majestic Hudson River Valley, the richness of nature would surround the Maetreum in this tiny and historic Catskill community. They purchased the property from the Genetelli family, the former owners of the Central House at 3312 Route 23A, and set out to restore its 19th-century style — complete with an operational telegraph room and old-world parlor room. Since those initial dreams, however, many changes have impacted the Maetreum’s dynamic as an organization and has interrupted the cosmetic restoration work.
A labored, drawn-out lawsuit over a property tax exemption hasn’t helped either. “It’s religious discrimination,” said Platine. “Their (the Town’s) argument is ridiculous on its face.” The Town’s position is that the property does not conform with exemption standards under state real property tax law. During a Greene County Court hearing on Dec. 2, 2009, attorney Hannelore Smith said, “Regardless of whether they are a religious organization, regardless of whether they have an IRS exemption, the RPTL still requires more.” Platine is at a loss as to what more they require.
Dan Vincelette, the town’s primary counsel in this proceeding, said during a phone interview that the 2007 exemption was initially denied because the group was experiencing structural turmoil during that year. “From what we were told by members of the group there was a split,” Vincelette said. “She (Platine) was no longer living at the property sometime in 2007.”
Platine confirmed she had not lived on the property for about a year, and there was a six-month hiccup in the organizational structure of the Maetreum in 2007, but, she said, the property continued its religious functions throughout that time. The Maetreum acts as a convent or nunnery, housing priestesses who practice their unorthodox faith from day-to-day, in addition to hosting public events and providing hospitality services to the needy, according to Platine.
The Maetreum’s attorney, Valeria Gheorghiu, said during the Dec. 2 hearing before Greene County Court Judge George Pulver Jr. that the Maetreum provides missionary and charitable services to the needy and temporary housing for the homeless. Platine additionally hopes to start a food pantry in the near future, though the legal fees associated with this fight have been an impediment. The Maetreum holds regular religious services, traditionally in celebration of the full moon, the solstices, the seasons and other pagan-centric celebrations — often misunderstood by those of a Judeo-Christian culture, Platine said.
According to Platine, a tour of the property by town officials, including Vincelette, yielded, to them, little sign of religious iconography. Though to an unfamiliar vision, and without knowledge of their significance, Platine said, the Cybelline themes and traditional pagan symbols abounding throughout the hotel property may seem obscure.
“Here is a Minoan lily,” Platine said as she pointed to an inconspicuous hand-painted blue and yellow flower on the kitchen’s wooden bar. Hanging on a kitchen wall were images of goddesses, the ancient deities praised by the Minoan culture. On the parlor room mantle, amidst a piano and functional beeswax, cylinder-playing Victrola, sits a shrine where the priestesses worship and pray. In its center is a statuette of the Seated Woman of Catal Huyuk, also called Catalhoyuk, an iconographic depiction of the Mother Goddess.
The front entrance of the former inn shows Maetreum stenciling above the doorway, with goddess sculpture hanging beside the doorway and two lion statues guarding the entry way — a traditional guardian of ancient societies, Platine said. In an effort to be part of the surrounding Palenville community, Platine has established a small film theater and cafe, serving coffee and conversation every Saturday. To Platine’s chagrin, however, Nancy McCoy, the town’s tax assessor, said the property does not conform to the requirements of the real property tax exemption, and that the property is closer to an inn or lodge for boarders.
Platine claims the property is closer to a religious retreat for pagans, while housing its priestess stewardesses. As a local example of a non-Judeo-Christian retreat receiving a tax exemption, Platine noted the property of the Peace Village of Haines Falls — a few miles along Route 23A in the town of Hunter. The Peace Village, a 291-acre spiritual retreat with unconventional Asiatic religious roots and operated by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, receives a full religious exemption from the Town of Hunter.
The Peace Village property was assessed at $2.16 million in 2010, with a full market value of $4 million. The Maetreum’s three-acre parcel was assessed at $135,000 in 2010 with a full market value of $226,000. The property consists of the three-level inn structure and a two-story cottage behind it, with a worship temple near the rear of the parcel.
Platine said taxes since 2007 have not been paid and the hope is they will be retroactively credited after the case is resolved in court. Attorneys are currently in the midst of case evidence discovery, with a conference scheduled for Nov. 17 at Greene County Court. The annual tax levy on the Maetreum property is about $5,400.
During the Dec. 2 hearing, Pulver asked Smith for the precise arrears amount owed by the Maetreum, to which she responded that “the issue we are looking at isn’t so much the dollars and cents of exactly what the taxes are, which I don’t have off the top of my head, the issue is opening the floodgates. Once you relax the requirements, and if you stretch them too far, then you’re going to have just a multitude of organizations who under the spirit of the law go —”
At that moment, the official court transcript shows Smith was interrupted by Pulver, who again asked how much the amount of taxes owed was. Smith said she didn’t know and did not further qualify her statement. Platine was present during that hearing and understood what Smith was getting at. “They declared war on us and we’re bringing it to them,” Platine said. “If we file a federal suit we will be looking for punitive damages. “We want to send a message loud and clear that you don’t do this to a minority religion,” she said. “They woke up a sleeping giant.”
Platine said she has had great support from the pagan community nationwide and was receiving donations to pay the Maetreum’s legal fees. “We just want them to give us back our exemption,” she said, “and leave us alone.”
To reach reporter Colin DeVries please call 518-943-2100 ext. 3325, or e-mail cdevries@thedailymail.net.