Category: Hierarchial Authority

OUTBREAKS OF CONGREGATIONAL DEMOCRACY

There is no particular legal argument local denominational churches can use to escape “trust clauses.” A “trust clause” typically means that the local church property and assets will revert to or taken over by the denomination if the local church no longer functionally exists. The motion common unsuccessful legal argument is that the local church conducted a “congregational meeting” and exited from the denomination. However, it is usually impossible for the local church to prove that there was an actual “congregational meeting” called or conducted consistent with the local church bylaws or the denominational governance documents.

In Presbyterian Church of the Palisades, Inc. v Hwang, Slip Op. (Sup NJ Chancery Div., 2019), a faction or remnant of the local church tried to defeat the “trust clause” by arguing a congregational meeting was convened to extract the local church from the denomination. The argument that the “will” of the congregation can be determined using Neutral Principles of Law, typically state corporate law, has not been available since it was rejected by the United States Supreme Court in 1969 and it was not resurrected in this case. In this case, too, the corporate minutes did not document that a congregational meeting was called consistent with the state statute or the local church bylaws. Indeed, the proof did not appear to support the assertion there had been such a meeting. Also, the faction remaining did not appear to have been properly elected to office. Summary judgment for the denomination was affirmed. The parallel foreclosure on the church property because of the default on the $2.7 million mortgage was also allowed to proceed.

Joining a denomination is easy and departing is nearly impossible. It is usually faster and cheaper for a congregation that desires to depart from a denomination to simply leave the church property and start over again elsewhere. Few congregations survive either staying and fighting with the denomination or leaving, but leaving presents the greater chance. The emotional attachment to a church property always seems misplaced.

DENOMINATIONAL FORECLOSURE

The hierarchical denominations exercise varying degrees of control over the existence, management and property of local congregations. Some can take total control if the numerical membership of a local church declines to a point below which the local church is no longer viable or its property is on the verge of abandonment. Congregational denominations may exercise similar varying degrees of control. Both tend to remain uninvolved locally until summoned or collapse of the local church appears imminent.

In Eltingville Lutheran Church v Rimbo, 2019 NY Slip Op. 05957 (NY App. 2019), the denomination asserted control over the local church when numerical membership of the local church appeared to the denomination to make the local church no longer viable. The local church operated a church and a school on its property. The local church sued the denomination. The local church claimed the takeover violated the denominational governance documents. The local church also sought an injunction of the takeover alleging property issues could be disposed of applying Neutral Principles of Law. The trial court dismissed the entire case finding the entire dispute to be an internal church dispute to which no Neutral Principles of Law were applicable. The appellate court affirmed.

The learning from this is a repetition of the universal axiom that if the dispute looks internal to the church and may be resolved through application of the church or denominational governance documents there is no room for Neutral Principles of Law. The effort to characterize property control issues separately from other aspects of the dispute will only succeed where the property control issue cannot be resolved through church governance documents. As has been seen, muddled church governance documents and sloppy record keeping, such as board minutes, may require Neutral Principles of Law to fill the vacuum.

IS MONEY ECCLESIASTICAL?

Churches may exist in the spiritual world and secular world but their money and property tend to exist in the secular world more so than in the spiritual. Therefore, a court will avoid spiritual issues pursuant to the Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine of the First Amendment but may conclude it has jurisdiction over money and property.

In Beyene, et al v Tekle, et al, Slip Op. (Wash. App. 2019), the decision of the trial court abstaining on Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine grounds was revered because the appellate court believed there were questions of fact regarding jurisdictional issues. The current chairman of the church testified it was hierarchical and led by its denominational authority while a priest of many years testified it was congregational and led by its priests and deacons. Apparently, the governing documents were not clear. The priest, a former church treasurer, and a founding member testified the financial allegations raised by the Plaintiff against former board members of financial misconduct were not ecclesiastical but were secular and corporate. The trial court on remand was ordered to weigh the jurisdictional facts and determine if the claims presented were, indeed, secular or ecclesiastical.

In all probability the purpose for which money is collected and spent will be ecclesiastical unless it can be proven the money was embezzled or spent for transparently improper purposes. Spending on personal expenses that are not documented reimbursements will remain more or less easily identified as improper but spending on “improper” purposes will not always be. What was improper a decade ago may not be improper next week or next century.

DAUGHTER CHURCH DNA TESTS

Although usually the governing documents of a local church or a denomination, or both, instantly resolve the question of whether a local church is, indeed, a member of a denomination and under its ecclesiastical jurisdiction, sometimes it is not clear. Many denominations have humble origins among immigrant communities, the uneducated, and the poor.

In Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Community Center Board v St. Thomas Syromalabar Diocese of Chicago, Slip Op., 2019 IL App 2d 180792, the appellate court affirmed summary judgment dismissing the case on Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine grounds. The Plaintiff claimed it was not a church at all and not under the jurisdiction of the denomination, in any event. The Plaintiff sued the denomination because the denomination would not authorize a third-party church to celebrate mass at the community center for a special program. The reason for refusal was not reported in the opinion. The denomination provided minimal proof the community center was under its religious jurisdiction. However, it was enough. The community center may have been able to disprove it was part of the denomination, but inadequate legal representation may have waived the right to do so.

Two lessons emerge. The Plaintiff should have engaged counsel experienced in civil litigation. Just because someone is a “lawyer” and has a license to practice does not mean the attorney is a civil case lawyer. (I have avoided the label “trial lawyer” because most civil cases no longer reach trials.) Just because a lawyer is part of the church membership does not make that lawyer qualified to handle a civil case. The other thing the community center board should have done, rather suing for tortious interference with contract and money damages, was to seek a declaratory judgment regarding its lack of affiliation with the denomination. That would likely have required application of neutral principles.