Auracher v. Yerger

• Decision Date: 11 May 1894
• Citation: 58 N.W. 893,90 Iowa 558
• Parties: JACOB AURACHER et al., Appellants, v. J. F. YERGER et al
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

58 N.W. 893

90 Iowa 558

JACOB AURACHER et al., Appellants, v. J. F. YERGER et al

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

May 11, 1894

Appeal from Polk District Court.--HON. W. F. CONRAD, Judge.

THIS is a suit in equity, and it involves a church controversy between two opposing parties, each claiming to be the true adherents of the Evangelical Association of North America. There was a decree dismissing the plaintiff's petition and they appeal.

Affirmed.

Gatch Connor & Weaver for appellants.

Ed. P Smith, E. B. Esher, and Read & Read for appellees.

OPINION

ROTHROCK, J.

The Evangelical Association of North America is a voluntary unincorporated religious denomination, which was organized in this country about the beginning of this present century. Its doctrine, discipline, and church government are all very much like that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its ecclesiastical organization consists of the society or congregation divided into classes. Each congregation holds it quarterly conference, which is the local governing body of each charge, and it meets four times each year. The general association is divided into what are known as "Annual Conferences," of which there are twenty-five in number, each of which holds a session annually; and its membership consists of all fully ordained ministers who have been in the itinerancy. These annual conferences are under the control of what is known as the "General Conference," which meets once in four years. The annual conferences are subordinate to, and are established or abolished, reorganized, or their boundaries changed by the general conference. The annual conferences are presided over by a bishop, if one is present. In the absence of a bishop, the members of the conference are required to elect a president, and the president and the presiding elders of the conference assign the preachers to their respective charges. The general conference consists of one member for every fourteen or fraction of seven or more members of each annual conference, and they are elected by a majority vote of the members of the annual conference. The general conference elects the bishops for a term of four years. The law or constitution of the church is contained in a book called the "Discipline," in which the powers of the different official bodies of the church are prescribed. As pertaining to the powers and jurisdiction of the general conference, the Discipline provides as follows: "Section 72. At general conference a bishop shall preside; but, if there be no bishop present, then the president shall be elected in like manner as at the annual conferences. Two thirds of the aggregate number of delegates shall constitute a quorum. Section 73. The general conference shall have power to make rules and arrangements for our church, under the following restrictions: (1) The general conference shall have no power to alter, to detract from, or to add to any of our articles of faith, except with regard to the governments of other nations. (2) It shall have no power to alter any rules or forms of our Church Discipline (the rules of our temporal economy being excepted) unless such alterations are previously recommended by two thirds of the members of all the annual conferences, who may be present at the sessions of the same; whereupon the general conference shall have power, by a majority of three fourths of their votes, to alter any of our rules or forms, excepting the Articles of Faith. It shall also have power by three fourths of its votes, to recommend to the annual conferences an alteration of any one of said rules or forms; and, after such alteration shall have been approved by two thirds of the members present at the sessions of all the annual conferences, it shall, by our bishops, be declared a law, and introduced as such into our Church Discipline. Section 74. The general conference is the supreme court of law in the church. It shall decide upon the legality of all acts of annual conferences, and upon all such cases as may arise between the annual conferences, and such as may arise between any incorporated society of the church and and its officers or any annual conference; and in its judicial capacity it shall decide, render verdict, and declare judgment only on such cases as are lawfully brought before it for adjudication."

A general conference of the association was held at Buffalo, in the state of New York, in the year 1887. There is no question made as to the legality of that conference, and, so far as appears, there were then no differences in the association at large. The proceedings of that conference, so far as the record before us shows, do not disclose that there were opposing factions in the church. There may have been dissatisfaction and objection to some of the officers of the conference, but it does not appear that there was any active disturbing element. The next general conference was required to be held in the year 1891. The Discipline provides that the time and place for the general conference shall be appointed as follows: "Section 71. The time and place of the general conference shall be appointed by the bishops, with the consent of the majority of the conference; and, if there be no bishop present, the general conference shall do it by a majority of votes, or the oldest annual conference, who then shall give the other annual conferences due notice of the time and place." The general conference at Buffalo in 1887 adopted the following resolutions: "Resolved, that the next session of the general conference shall begin on the first Thursday in October, 1891." "Resolved, that the matter of appointing the place of the next general conference be referred to the board of publication." These resolutions were unanimously adopted. No question was raised by any member of the conference as to the power of the bishops and the conference to refer the naming of the place of the next general conference to the board of publication.

It should be stated in this connection that it was the usual custom for different societies or charges to make known to the general conference a desire to have the next conference to meet with them. There was but one such invitation presented to the Buffalo conference, and before that order of business was reached in the deliberations of the conference the invitation was withdrawn, and it is apparent that no place could then be named without the risk of the meeting of the next conference at a place where the local society had made no offer to extend the hospitality usually accorded to general conferences of the association. The board of publication is composed of the bishops of the church and eight other persons, selected from eight districts, into which the general association is divided. We do not understand that any claim is made that the members of this board were not capable of making a judicious and proper selection of the place for the next meeting of the conference. The contention of appellants is that the Buffalo conference had no lawful or constitutional power to refer the selection of the place to any committee or board, nor to any other agency. In October, 1890, the board of publication, in pursuance of the authority of the general conference appointed the place for the next meeting of the general conference at Indianapolis, in the state of Indiana, and publication of the place selected was at once made in the newspapers and periodicals of the denomination. Bishops Bowman and Esher were present at this meeting of the board, and no question is made that the board was not lawfully convened. In the meantime serious controversy had arisen among some of the members of the association, which involved opposition to the bishops of the church, and a church court was convened, and all the bishops were deposed from office. If this church trial was legally convoked, and its proceedings valid, its judgment against the bishops suspended them from office until the next general conference. Bishop Dubs...