Trusteeism
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Trusteeism and the trustee system are practices and institutions within certain parishes of the
The Church often appoints deputies who are responsible to herself. Technically, such administrators, whether cleric or lay, are called the "fabric" of the Church (
History
In very early times ecclesiastical goods were divided into three or four portions, and that part set aside for the upkeep of the Church began to take on the character of a juridical person. The Eleventh Council of Carthage [2] in 407 requested the civil power to appoint five executors for ecclesiastical property, and in the course of time laymen were called on to take their share in this administration, with the understanding, however, that everything was to be done in the name and with the approbation of the Church.
A number of early and medieval synods have dealt with the administration of curators of ecclesiastical property.[3] The employment of laymen in concert with clerics as trustees became common all over Christendom.
In England such officials were called
Fabric of the Church
The fabric of the church is distinct from the foundation of the benefice, and sometimes the fabric, in addition to the goods destined for the upkeep of divine worship, possesses also schools and eleemosynary institutions.[5] All lay trustees must be approved by the bishop, and he retains the right of removing them and of overseeing the details of their administration.
In countries in which the church organization was entirely swept away by
United States
In the United States the employment of lay trustees was customary in some parts of the country from a very early period. The practice of lay trusteeism in Catholic parishes was influenced by the polity of
The
Legal standing of trustees
The legal standing of church trustees according to British law is treated by Taunton, "The Law of the Church", pp. 15, 315. In the United States the legal rights of trustees vary slightly in different States, but the following prescriptions (selected from Scanlan, "The Law of Church and Grave") hold almost everywhere: When the statute provides that two lay members of the corporation shall be appointed annually by the committee of the congregation, the members of the congregation have no right to elect said two members, and those appointed in the proper manner are lawful officers. When the election of new trustees is invalid, the old trustees hold over until there shall have been a valid election of their successors. The president and secretary of a church corporation have no authority to make a promissory note unless authorized by the board of trustees. When the laws of the organization give control of matters to the board of trustees, the majority of the members of the church cannot control the action of the trustees contrary to the uses and regulations of the church. A court has no authority to control the exercise of the judgment or discretion of the officers of a church in the management of its funds so long as they do not violate its constitutions or by-laws. Excommunication does not always remove an officer of a church corporation. The legal rights of a bishop in regard to the temporalities of a church, where they are not prescribed by the civil law, must rest, if at all, upon the ecclesiastical law, which must be determined by evidence. When property is conveyed to a church having well-known doctrine, faith, and practice, a majority of the members has not the authority or power, by reason of a change of religions views, to carry the property thus designated to a new and different doctrine. The title to church property is in that part of the congregation which acts in harmony with the law of the denomination; and the ecclesiastical laws and principles which were accepted before the dispute began are the standard for determining which party is right.
Recent issues in the United States
In 2005, an interdict was issued to board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (St. Louis, Missouri) in an attempt to get them to turn over the church property to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis.
In 2006, a priest was accused of stealing $1.4 million from his parish, prompting a debate over Connecticut Raised Bill 1098 as a means of forcing the Catholic church to manage money differently.
Another concern related to disputes over property ownership is whether the dioceses follow for parish suppression. In some cases, parishes have been liquidated and the
Notes
- ISBN 0-8091-2964-7.
- ^ can. ii
- ^ e.g. can. vii, Conc. Bracar. (563); can. xxxviii, Conc. Mogunt. (813); can. x, Conc. Mogunt. (847); can. xxxv, Conc. Nation. Wirceburg. (1287)
- ^ Sess. XXII, can. ix, "De Ref."
- ^ S.C.C., 27 Apr., 1895, in caus. Bergom.
- ^ For the trustee system, as far as it can be called such, in use in the Catholic Church in England and Ireland see Taunton, "The Law of the Church", pp. 15, 316.
- ^ 21 July 1856
- ^ Shaw, Russell (30 June 2017). "The Church and Democracy". OSV. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
- ^ 24 Aug., 1822
- ^ 12 Aug., 1841
- ^ Tit. IX, no.287
- ^ 29 July 1911
References
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Trustee System". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
- Taunton, The Law of the Church (London, 1906), s. vv. Fabric; Administration; Ecclesiastical Property;
- Scanlan, The Law of Church and Grave (New York, 1909);
- Smith, Notes on II Council of Baltimore (New York, 1874), x;
- Concilium Plenarium III Baltimorense (Baltimore, 1886);
- Franz Xavier Wernz, Jus Decretalium, III (Rome, 1901).
Further reading
- Dichtl, John R. (2008-03-24). Frontiers of Faith: Bringing Catholicism to the West in the Early Republic. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2486-5.
- Willis, Robert (2006-01-30). The Democracy of God: An American Catholicism. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-37922-4.
- Noll, Mark A. (2003). To 1877. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-2229-1.