Church property

“ Where heirs of a bishop or of other ecclesiastics, who have placed their sons in the service of the church, obtain lands or any other property through the generosity of the clergy, and then return to the laity, or abandon the service of the church whose lands or other property they hold, they shall at once forfeit all such possessions. ”

“ The strictest prohibition against alienating the property of the church exists in that code, and it provides that the alienation of church property shall not take place, even with the assent of all the representatives of the church, since these rights 'belong to the church,' and the church is the mother of religion; and as faith is perpetual, its patrimony must be preserved in its entirety perpetually. ”

“ Take the oath; it is necessary you should be empowered to hold real estate for the good of the church. The church must have her property out of the hands of trustees; in this country they are all heretics ”

“ Accordingly in many European countries as much as a fourth of the land became church property. The appetite for property grows with what it feeds upon. Already in the thirteenth century it was being said everywhere that the priests were not good men, that they were always hunting for money and legacies.
The kings and princes disliked this alienation of property very greatly. In the place of feudal lords capable of military support, they found their land supporting abbeys and monks and nuns. ”

“ CONFISCATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY.
On the night of August 4, 1789, the privileged classes abandoned their feudal rights, and the clergy renounced their titles, and the offerings usual at baptisms, marriages, and funerals. This sacrifice, however, did not suffice to appease the revolutionary spirits, and on August 6th, the right of the clergy to hold property was called into question for the first time. It was then that Buzot pronounced that phrase which was soon to re-echo through the halls of the Assembly: "The property of the clergy belongs to the nation." ”

“ It is impossible for a candid mind to mistake the plain meaning of the very explicit and precise prohibitions levelled against making grants of Church property for the benefit of individuals, and against nothing else. ”

“ In Britain, however, the offerings of the faithful are almost the only means available for the maintenance of divine worship, the building and repair of churches and schools, the support of charitable institutions and of the clergy. Hence it becomes a matter of importance to be able to decide what offerings belong to the clergy as their own property, and what constitute ecclesiastical property and belong to the Church. ”

“ Mindful of the fact that all things of this world belong to the Lord, and that the Catholic Church, as the chosen of the Lord, possesses a lien upon these worldly goods, the priest refuses to administer the sacrament without some restitution. If the dying man has bought confiscated church property, he must restore its value, with interest, or if he has even owned it at second or third hands, and fairly paid for it, he must pay again its value to the Church before he can get a clear title to heaven, or his heirs a title to his temporal possessions. ”

“ Are we to think of a persona ficta, or of a patron saint, or of the Bride of Christ, or of that vast corporation aggregate the congregatio omnium fidelium, or of Christ's vicar at Rome, or of Christ's poor throughout the world; or shall we say that walls are capable of retaining possession? Mystical theories break down : persons who can never be in the wrong are useless in a court of law. Much might be and much was written about these matters, and we may observe that the extreme theory which places the ownership of all church property in the pope was taught by at least one English canonist. ”

“ What portion of Church property has been long enjoyed by private families, or by Corporations, has, of course, become inalienable; but it would be a reasonable and a righteous thing (and all the more blessed for being voluntary) that every person who receives tithes, or possesses glebe land in a parish, for which no spiritual service is rendered, should give in some way or other to the Church a very liberal percentage of what was never meant to be raised for the purpose of private emolument, but for the fitting discharge of ecclesiastical duties. (Webb's "England's Inheritance in her Church.") ”

“ Whatever was not paid to the clergyman would inevitably at the next lease be paid to the landholder, while, as the case at present stands, the revenues of the Church are in some sort the reversionary property of every family, that may have a member educated for the Church, or a daughter that may marry a clergyman. ”

“ An agreement is come to as to the conditions on which pious foundations are able to be made; the measure in which church property shall contribute to the public expenses is indicated; and, in the 19th century, the position of those who have acquired confiscated church property is regularized. In exchange for this surrender by the church of its ancient property the state engages to contribute to the subsistence of the ministers of public worship, or at least of certain of them.
Scholars agree in associating the earliest concordats with the celebrated contest about investitures (q.v.) ”

“ The affairs of a local church or congregation were superintended by a bishop. To deal with the outlying districts he detached priests for religious work and, as in Rome and (774) Strassburg, deacons also for the administration of relief. Originally all the income of the church or congregation was paid into one fund only, of which the bishop had charge, and this fund was available primarily for charitable purposes. Church property was the patrimony of the poor. ”

“ Besides being called a "State Church," the Church of England has also been called a "State paid Church." It is well to remember that the Parochial Clergy, and all others except Army and Navy Chaplains and the like, do not receive one farthing from the State. The property, or Endowment, of the Church was the voluntary gift of private individuals in all ages, who, out of regard to the spiritual interests of those who lived upon their estates, built churches, and endowed them for the maintenance of religious worship. ”

“ In those countries it is only money questions, the contest about Church property, that stirs men's minds. How much is to be left to the clergy or taken from them, that is the question here. And the Bishops hope that papal [pg 340] infallibility will give some added force to the papal decisions on the inviolability of Church property.
Among the Opposition Bishops many are still in good spirits and full of confidence. ”

“ Amendment therefore commands civil courts to decide church property disputes without resolving underlying controversies over religious doctrine.' It follows that a State may adopt any one of various approaches for settling church property disputes so long as it involves no consideration of doctrinal matters, whether the ritual and liturgy of worship or the tenets of faith. ”

“ The fact should also be recognized that to many the existence of churches adjacent to their property is anything but a benefit. So far from regarding the value of their property as increased by the coming of a church, many an owner will resent the intrusion, and sell out at a loss, rather than be exposed to some of the features of church activity in his immediate vicinity. ”

“ As bishop he was remarkable for the success with which he provided the necessary means for the support of churches, schools and hospitals in his widespread diocese, which had been deprived of its usual sources of income by the wholesale confiscation of church property. ”

“ Does the bigness of the property entitle the State to claim it? This is a formidable doctrine for other religious bodies, as they increase in influence and numbers. Is it vexatious that the Church should be richer and more powerful than the sects? It is not the fault of the Church that it is the largest and the most ancient body in England. ”

“ Their churches are all free, as no one can inherit or sell them. When a priest wants to build a church with his own money, he must give it to the parish, so that after his death no one may dispose of it, or he is not allowed to build it; and the same if a lord or layman builds one, so that nobody shall interfere, because it has been the custom amongst them. When a priest or layman founded a church, his heirs inherited it as they did his other property, and let it out on usury, or sold it like other property. ”

“ Catholic holidays—-such as Columbus Day—to be celebrated by all Protestants in America; thirty million dollars worth of church property exempted from taxation in New York City; ”

“ The exclusive rights of ecclesiastical authorities in the administration of church property have been denied in practice by civil authorities, often with the result of serious injustice and hardship to particular churches especially during the last two centuries. Hence the care taken in various councils to admonish administrators to secure the titles to church property in accordance with the provisions of secular law, e.g. ”

“ Walker spent the fall of 1886 in the North, soliciting funds to complete the payment of his church property. His church had by their own efforts paid $10,000 of the $12,000, which the lot and edifice cost. ”

“ The extent to which the clergy accumulated wealth is almost incredible; they are said to have possessed three-fourths of the whole property of the country, consisting of lands and other real estate, rents, mortgages, conventual buildings, and church ornaments. ”

“ Again, while Catholic worship is still permitted in the cathedrals and in a sufficient number of other churches, it is clearly understood that all of these structures, and the land upon which they stand, are absolutely the property of the Government, liable to be sold and converted to other uses at any time, and that the officiating clergy are only "tenants at will." Even the ringing of the church-bells is regulated by law. ”

“ While moreover the clergy have no right to engross the name of church man, x they have also no right to extend the application of the word spiritual to all they do, as when they use it to cover their property and incomes in order to exempt them from legal burthens or conditions. The clergy have indeed a spiritual office in the church, but their dealings outside these definite functions, their tenure of land, their financial and other temporal engagements, are just as much secular as those of their lay brethren, and are just as much subject to the law of the state. ”

“ They hold the Church as a close borough, consume its revenues, swear by its creed, and maintain its privileges. They are strong partisans; the same interest guides them which governs the business man in upholding his trade interests--the sacred rights of property. To defend their inherited rights they will fight doggedly, and surrender only in the last trench.
Outside the charmed enclosure of the Church the clergy esteem their Christian neighbours ecclesiastical inferiors, not to be consorted with on equal footing, and they leave the Almighty to take charge of outsiders here and hereafter. ”

“ Property was to be consecrated for the poor, and laid before the Bishop and his counselors, who are to be two Elders or High Priests. (See sec. 42. pars. 30, 31, p. 171) The residue was to be kept in a storehouse for the poor and needy, as shall be appointed by the High Council and the Bishop and his Council and for purchasing Church lands, building houses of worship, building up the New Jerusalem; of course he was to act as a general Bishop of the Church, (he was not confined to a ward,) to receive and distribute property, appoint stewardships, etc. ”

“ When vicarages were ordained, the repair of the chancel, the rector’s peculiar property, was usually left to the monastery as rector; but we often find that a special stipulation was made by which part of the repairs even of this portion of the church devolved upon the vicar, and that sometimes his stipend was so arranged as to free the monastery of this obligation altogether. A monastery naturally regarded the fruits of a church as an addition to its own income. The most that could be expected of it would be that it would employ a reasonable part of the profits in keeping the fabric in order. ”

“ We are out of debt, and the property is free from incumbrance. What I propose, therefore, is a very simple thing—that we move our church edifice down into the heart of the tenement district, where we can buy a suitable lot for a comparatively small sum, and at once begin the work of a Christian Church in the very neighborhood where such work is most needed. ”

“ In some States there is no special law for incorporating religious societies; while in most States there are special provisions therefor. For this reason, I emphasize the fact that no parish or clergyman is justified in organizing a congregation or purchasing land without first knowing the law of that particular [pg 043] State. But generally it is best that each congregation be incorporated and that its property be held in the name of the corporation, so that the debts of one corporation will not embarrass the diocese, and that bequests and gifts made to a church may be enforced in the courts. ”

“ Where a church is of a strictly congregational or independent organization, and the property held by it has no trust attached to it, its right to the use of the property must be determined by the ordinary principles which govern ordinary associations. ”

“ It, not unlikely, will be confiscated, and the right of the church to be a proprietor legally denied or not recognized, yet property dedicated to religious uses still will be passably secure under the general law protecting citizens and their rights of property, to make gifts inter vivos, and testamenary bequests. ”