The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-08-18

I q
Nay, more: can any church, so ultra Democrat
as to admit its female members to an equa
share in the secular government of its affairs
obtain q charter under it
Z. w. s. has put us upon the examination
: not only of the statute which he thinks he un
derstands and we do not, but upon the examl
nation of bis very broad construction OF It,
, IL is plain. we think, and beyond dispute
that there may be many pecularities Of church
creed and government debarred from the priv
leges of the general Incorporation law Of New
York, and from the rights and advantages
which f. w. s. so confidently asserts are open
) and equal alike to all We find one instance
ON the record, in which this third section did
not answer the necessities Of the case BY
an act passed on the 2lst of April, 1925, the
the church styling itself the True Reformed
Dutch Church is enabled to incorporate itself
in the mode prescribed in and by the second
section of the act " of lsl3-the very words
used in the bill opposed by our correspondent,
and comforting the very same privileges, neither
moro nor less, in any respect that affects the
principle
Observe the second section says: "The
minister or ministers and elders and deacons
of every Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church or congregation, now or hereafter to
be established in this State, and elected accord.
ing 10 the rules and uSageS of such churches
within this State, shall be the trustees for every
such church Or congregation" Here, then, Is
nothing prescribed as to the manner of the
election Of ministers and elders and deaeons ;
nothing as to their number nothing as to the
age, SEX or other qualifications of the electors ;
and, if the known discipline and usage Of these
| churches are understood and made the condi-
tions of valid election, by legal implication,
| the True Reformed Dutch Church, incorpora-
ted by the act Of 1925, nevertheless, gets allow
ance and liberty for its difference of "rules and
usages," whatever that may be, without any
defining and limiting description.
Now, the "act to authorize the incorporation
of the Roman Catholic Congregations or Socie-
ties" which is the subject of our dispute, reads
thus:
"Any officer or officers, person or persons
being citizens of this State, who, according 10
the usage and discipline of the Roman Catholic
Church, may be designated to represent any
Roman Catholic Society or congregation in
holding or managing the temperatures thereof
may become incorporated as the trustee or
trustees Of such congregation or society, an the
mode prescribed in the second section of the act
entitled, An act to provide for the incorpora-
ton of religious societies, passed April 5th,
1913, as a corporation, sole or aggregate, as the
case may be; and, as such, shall possess the
same powers and rights and be subject to the
same restrictions, liabilities and conditions in
all respects, as the trustees of any Protestant
Church or congregation incorporated under
said section"
Among these restrictions, let us remark, is
this one-as appears by the fourth section OF
the act of 1813--that the annual income shall
not exceed SO 900; and the liability, by the
tenth section, that the trustees of every church
so Incorporated shall exhibit an inventory and
account of all its property and annual revenue,
once in three years to the Chancellor, or one
of the Judges Of the Supreme or Common Pleas
courts, and procure from the Chancellor or
Judge certificate that its annual income has
not for the six preceding years, exceeded the
amount allowed by law and, on failure to do
So shall cease to be corporation or, in case
the exhibit is made and the limited income
appears to be exceeded, then the case is to be
reported 10 hesnext Legislature for it's correc-
ton.
But we shall be told, very likely, after all
this, that we ara overlooking the real distinc-
ton between the case for which we argue and
those admitted to be all right and proper or
in the language Of f. w. s., that we are not
acquainted with the controversy in this State,
New York and do not understand its merits j"
What is the characteristic popularity in the
Catholic property bill, which makes it 80 ex-
ceptional and exceptionable? This probably
that it creates corporations sole, and does not
require the election Of the trustees by the con-
gregation worshipping in the church, or other.
wise interested in its use and management. On
Che first point we have not heard an argument,
or ever seen one on paper, against the man.
agement of church by single trustee, hold
ing his Office agreeably to the faith and feel
ings of the wOrshippers. Nobody, we presume,
would object to their eleeting him; and, if SO,
what is the objection to their designating him,
either expressly or impfedly-by ballot form
ally, or constructively, by taking and holding
membership in the communion under that
clear understanding? Probably E. w. S.
would allow the whole body of Catholic con- |
grcgatiOn to hold an election, in the common
form, and in this ,cay designate the bishop as
sole trustee of their property. If so, he must
not take away the substance Of the right, by
debating themanner of exercising it. If they,
in effect do so designate him, and that unani-
mously, the Director is dead-locked. But +.
w. s. is once more wrong, in saying that
there is not the slightest objection, under our
statute that the people Of the Catholic COM
munion should meet and elect their bishops
and priests trustees of their temporalites."
There is not statute in New York that allows
the election, in any case, Of less than three
trustees for any one church in the State. BY his
own concession of tho principle, therefore, the
Catholics as well as all other sects, are unjust
ly compelled to elect plurality of trustees.
Thus fatally fails the assertion that the reli-
gious liberties Of no scot or persuasion in New
York are violated BY its incorporation laws.
Those liberties are abridged, both by the requi-
sition that there. shall be more than one trus-
tee in every case, and by prescribing and ex-
acting particular mode Of selecting the per.
son to fill the Office
The bill under discussion docs not prevent
any Catholic congregation from electing their
trustees under the general law, and it does not