Saving St. James

Some names and events have been redacted to keep the focus on the actions and the harmful effect it had on St. James. Some members in the Diocese have reported similar stories suggesting a need for a heartfelt and transparent conversation about these issues.

 

CLAIM 2

 

Respondent Bishop Provenzano exceeded his authority to declare St. James’ a mission church[1] of the Diocese and to transfer its real and personal property to the Trustees of the Estate. The Bishop’s conversion of St. James’ from Parish to mission violates the NYS Supreme Court decree in St. James’ Church v. EDLI (22564/2005); the NYS Religious Corporation Law (“RCO”); TEC Canons I.13.3, I.14, III.9.6, IV.4.1; and EDLI Canons II.3.1-2, VII.2.1, VII.2.6, and VII.4.

 

1.  This complaint contends St. James’ is an incorporated Parish under the laws of the State of New York.  St. James’ as a religious corporation is entitled to exercise its rights and fulfill its temporal responsibilities in accordance with the law.  This includes electing its own vestry, selecting a Rector,[2] and acting as stewards of the church.  St. James’ has always held on to its incorporation since 1793.
 

2.  In 2008, the NYS Supreme Court (Queens County) issued its opinion ending a 3-year legal battle between a breakaway group who claimed the real and personal property of St. James’ and the Diocese (See Appendix E).[3]  The Diocese prevailed on its counterclaim that the property was held in trust for The Episcopal Church.  However, it lost on its fourth counterclaim that St. James’ had forfeited its real and personal property to the Diocese, specifically the Trustees of the Estate. 
 

3.  Before the decision was issued, the Diocesan Council responded to the breakaway group by declaring St. James’ extinct, which according to the Diocese, would have allowed the Trustees of the Estate to seize control of the real and personal property.
 

4.  In the decision, the court ruled: 
 

“Defendants Diocese and Trustees’ request for summary judgment on their fourth counterclaim to take possession and manage St. James’ real and personal property, pursuant to the provisions of Religious Corporations Law § 16 is denied, and this counterclaim is dismissed. Religious Corporations Law §16 only authorizes incorporated governing bodies to declare a church or parish over which it has ecclesiastical control extinct. Although the Diocese may declare St. James’ parish to be extinct pursuant to its Diocesan Canons, the provisions of Religious Corporations Law § 16 are inapplicable as it is undisputed that the Diocese is an unincorporated association and not an incorporated governing body.”[4]
 

[Paragraphs 5-6 blank]

 

7.  The court held the Diocese did not have the authority to declare a church extinct.  In addition, the Court ruled the Diocese could not seize St. James’ property because the property and the church were shielded by its corporate charter.  In addition, the Diocese lacked the required legal form to act.  In other words, the Court rebuked the Diocese for trying to pierce the church’s corporate charter through a back door.  
 

8.  The Religious Corporation Law requires every incorporated Protestant Episcopal parish or church to have an elected vestry or board of trustee.  The law empowers the vestry to:
 

“… to administer the temporalities and property, real and personal, belonging to the corporation, for the support and maintenance of the corporation and, provided it is in accordance with the discipline, rules and usages of the Protestant Episcopal Church…”[5]  
 

9.  In fact, under RCO §23 St. James’ still retains any powers granted to it by the special law enacted in 1793. 
 

10.  TEC and the Diocesan Canons recognize the supremacy of State law regarding religious corporations. 
 

11.  TEC Canon I.13.3(c) states, “This canon shall not affect the legal rights of property of any Parish or Congregations.”  Canon I.14.2 makes it explicit that elected vestries act as agents over the temporal affairs of the church:
 

“Except as provided by the law of the State or of the Diocese, the Vestry shall be agents and legal representatives of the Parish in all matters concerning its corporate property and the relations of the Parish to its Clergy.”
 

12.  The Diocesan Canons have similar language: “Nothing contained in this Canon shall affect any legal rights of property of any Parish.”[6]

 

13.  The Diocesan Canons are silent on the powers and organizational structure of incorporated parishes and churches.  No doubt, because New York law spoke on the subject.

 

14.  The strongest argument the Bishop has to declare St. James’ a mission lies in Canon VII.4 (Aided Parishes). In brief, this canon makes provisions for struggling churches to receive financial and other support from the Diocese.   

 

15.  The Canons require:[7]

 

“A parish may apply to the Bishop…provided the Parish is willing to meet the requirements set forth hereafter in this Canon.”

 

“Such application must be accompanied by a waiver from the Wardens and vestry of their right to elect a Rector…”

 

“An Aided Parish shall…transfer the title of all Real Estate and all Endowment and Trust Funds to the Trustees of the Estate…[to] be administered by the Bishop and the Trustees of the Estate.”

 

“Upon acceptance as an Aided Parish, the Wardens and Vestrymen shall tender their resignations…”

 

“If an Aided Parish reverses to its former status, it may petition the Trustees of the Estate for a conveyance of its Real Estate and the return of its Endowment and Trust Funds…”

 

16.  Under the Diocesan Canons, the Parish must take an affirmative action to trigger the provisions of the Canon.  Once triggered and accepted, the parish is subject to the authority of the Bishop and the Trustees of the Estate.  The Vestry of St. James’ did not petition the bishop to become an aided parish. The Vestry did not vote to transfer its property to the Trustees of the Estate.  Vestry members and officers did not voluntarily resign their positions.  The Bishop and the Canon of the Ordinary literally attended a Vestry meeting to declare St. James’ a mission church and inform the Vestry they were now a Bishop’s Committee. 

 

17.  Even if the Bishop could construct some rational basis on this Canon, the court said though the Diocese may have their own internal rules NYS law is supreme regarding the temporal affairs of incorporated churches.  Nowhere in the statute could it be found the Bishop or the Diocese have the power to reach into a religious corporation to scramble its governance and seize its real and personal property.  The State, not the Diocese, gives the church its corporate powers.  It is State law that determines how a religious corporation is formed, governed, dissolved, and its real and personal property transferred.  No one at St. James’ took the steps to dissolve the church’s corporate charter or transfer the church’s real and personal property.

 

18.  The Bishop at his 2013 meeting at the church, did not advise the Vestry its rights under Canon law and the NYS Religious Corporation law.  The Vestry and its officers accepted the Bishop had the authority on the strength of his spiritual and moral authority. 

 

19.  The Bishop did not meet the requirements of TEC and Diocesan Canons or New York State law to seize control of St. James’ real and personal property and its corporate governance.  The Bishop exceeded his authority and misrepresented the extent to which he could act.

 

NOTES

 

[1] Under local canon law mission churches are referred to as “Aided Parishes”.  See Diocesan Canon IV “Aided Parishes, p. 37.

[2] In accordance with the resolutions of the Diocesan Convention. 

[3] St. James’ Church, Elmhurst v. Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, No. 22564/05 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.: Queens County, March 12, 2008)

[4]ibid, page 40.

[5] RCO §42-a

[6] Diocesan Canon VII.2.6, page 35.

[7] See Diocesan Canon IV “Aided Parishes, p. 37