Calvary Presbyterian Church of Baltimore City v. Presbytery of Baltimore of United Presbyterian Church in U.S.

• Decision Date: 12 May 1978
• Docket Number: No. 1114,1114
• Citation: 39 Md.App. 405,386 A.2d 357
• Parties: The CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BALTIMORE CITY, etc., et al. v. The PRESBYTERY OF BALTIMORE OF the UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN the UNITED STATES of America, et al.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 405

39 Md.App. 405

386 A.2d 357

The CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BALTIMORE CITY, etc., et al. v. The PRESBYTERY OF BALTIMORE OF the UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN the UNITED STATES of America, et al.

No. 1114.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

May 12, 1978.

[386 A.2d 358] Gerald E. Topper, Baltimore, for appellants.

Richard W. Kiefer and Dorothy M. Beaman, Baltimore, for appellees.

Argued before GILBERT, C. J., and MORTON and MOORE, JJ.

GILBERT, Chief Judge.

The commandment of Watson v. Jones, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 679, 20 L.Ed. 666 (1871), addressed to the courts, is that thou shalt not delve deeply into jurisdictional disputes among churches. ¹ That precept is a direct outgrowth of the First Amendment's fiat that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." ² U.S.Const. amend. I. That language, as Thomas Jefferson viewed it, built "a wall of separation between church and State." ³ The "wall of separation" does not mean that courts have been stripped of all power to inquire into disputes arising among church members. Indeed, "(t)he state has a legitimate interest in keeping title and ownership in land settled and secure." Note, Judicial Intervention in Church Property Disputes Some Constitutional Considerations, 74 Yale L.J. 1113, 1130 (1965). The State's interest in the protection of its citizenry necessitates that it know "at all times the owners of property within its borders," Id., so that in the event one is injured on that property, the owner may be readily located. Id. Moreover, the State is cognizant of the words of Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639) that "(t)he itch of disputing will prove the scab of churches," ⁴ and it affords the disputants a forum for "some recourse other than the sword for settling their disputes. . . . " Id. See also the Maryland and Virginia Eldership of the Churches of God v. The Church of God at Sharpsburg, Inc., 249 Md. 650, 677, 241 A.2d 691, 706-07 (1968), vacated and remanded, 393 U.S. 528, 89 S.Ct. 850, 21 L.Ed.2d 750 (1969).

The Circuit Court for Baltimore City was the forum in which the parties to this appeal went to resolve a church property ownership question. The late Judge Robert L. Sullivan decided the matter in favor of the appellees, The Presbytery of Baltimore of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (United), an unincorporated association. ⁵ The appellants, The Calvary Presbyterian Church of Baltimore City (Calvary), a body corporate of the State of Maryland, ⁶ unmistakably aggrieved at Judge Sullivan's decision, have appealed to this Court.

Calvary advances two (2) issues, videlicet:

"1. Where there was no provision in its corporate charter, deeds or religious constitution, if THE CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BALTIMORE CITY voted to withdraw from THE PRESBYTERY OF BALTIMORE OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to affiliate itself with another branch of the Presbyterian Church, The Presbyterian Church in America, did the right of possession and control of the local church property remain in CALVARY or could UNITED thereafter determine to dissolve CALVARY and seize CALVARY's property even though CALVARY remained Presbyterian in doctrine and affiliation?

2. Where the Appellant Church was incorporated in the year 1911, and thereafter acquired property in its name, under United States and Maryland Constitutions and stated circumstances, what was the legal effect of a subsequent legislative enactment calling for amendment of Appelants (sic ) Church's Charter without CALVARY's consent or notice."

More ingeniously, the question before us is who owns the church property, Calvary or United?

THE FACTS.

From the "Agreed Statement of Facts," we learn that United is organized and functions pursuant to a constitution which consists of two (2) parts: The Book of Confession and The Book of Order. It is the latter with which we are concerned.

The Book of Order ⁷ is divided into three (3) main subdivisions: 1) "The Directory for the Worship of God"; 2) "The Form of Government"; and 3) "The Book of Church Discipline." The first and third subdivisions deal with "questions of discipline, or of faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom or law." Watson v. Jones, 80 U.S. at 727, 20 L.Ed. at 676. As such, we are precluded from inquiring into them by the constitutional barrier, erected by the First Amendment, between the church and the State. ⁸ We, therefore, turn our attention to The Book of Order subdivision entitled, "The Form of Government."

It is necessary to know that Calvary is one of the seventy-nine (79) United Presbyterian Churches located in Baltimore City and the counties of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Howard, and Washington. United is an association of Presbyterian churches governed by four (4) bodies styled as "judicatories." In ascending order of authority, the four (4) are:

1) the session which is "charged with maintaining the spiritual government of the congregation," The Book of Order, "The Form of Government," Ch. XI § 41.06 (1967), and those matters appertaining thereto. The session has "exclusive authority over the uses to which the church buildings and properties may be put . . . " Id. at § 41.07;

2) the presbytery "consists of all the ministers . . . and at least one ruling elder commissioner from each church, within a certain district . . . (composed of not less than) twelve churches." Id. at Ch. XII § 42.01. It "has power to . . . decide (all) appeals, complaints, and references," Id. at § 42.08, properly brought, "and in cases in which the session cannot exercise its authority," Id., the presbytery may assume original jurisdiction. Of more direct importance to the instant case is the fact that the presbytery possesses the power "to review and approve the records of church sessions, and to require their correction; to redress whatever they may have done contrary to order, and to take effectual care that they observe the Constitution of the Church . . ." Id.;

3) the synod is comprised "of the ministers and ruling elders of not fewer than three presbyteries within a specific geographic region." Id. at Ch. XIII § 43.01. Inter alia, it decides appeals from presbyteries;

4) "The General Assembly is the highest judicatory . . . and . . . represent(s) in one body all the particular churches thereof. It . . . bear(s) the title of The General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." Id. at Ch. XIV § 44.01. (Emphasis supplied.)

The "Agreed Statement of Facts" contains the following background eventually leading to the matters being before us:

"A particular church can be organized only by the authority of the presbytery. The organization of the CALVARY congregation was approved by the Presbytery on October 4, 1910, and a corporation to hold title to property for the congregation was formed on February 3, 1911. Article VI of its charter provides:

'ARTICLE VI. The "Calvary Presbyterian Church of Baltimore City" shall forever remain a Presbyterian Church in doctrine, government, and worship in accordance with the standards of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of American (sic), that is to say, the Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Cathechisms (sic ), and in ecclesiastical connection with the "Presbytery of Baltimore," in accordance with its organization by said Presbytery, on the 4th day of October, in the year one thousand nine hundred and ten. . . . '

"At the time CALVARY was incorporated, the Presbytery of Baltimore was part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. At the 505th stated meeting of the Presbytery held on April 22 and 23, 1957, at which CALVARY's minister and one of its elders were present and voting, the Presbytery voted for the proposed plan of union with The United Presbyterian Church of North America. On May 28, 1958, The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and The United Presbyterian Church of North America united to form the Church now known as THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (UNITED). At the Presbytery's 511th stated meeting held on June 10, 1958, at which representatives of CALVARY were present and voting, the Presbytery took official notice of the union and the Church's new name.

In 1913, the Presbyterian Association, an arm of the Presbytery, acquired title to unimproved land on the west side of Patuxent Street, now Linwood Avenue, and bounded on the south by McElderry Street and to the north by the center of Logan Street, and sold and conveyed a portion to CALVARY in 1914. CALVARY borrowed Eight Thousand Dollars ($8,000.00) from the Church Erection Fund of the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America secured by a mortgage on the property. In 1930, The Presbyterian Association sold and conveyed the remainder of the land to CALVARY. CALVARY Church borrowed Four Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($4,500.00) from the Board of National Missions of The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America secured by a mortgage on the property. All loans and mortgages have been paid, and title to the real property remains in the name of CALVARY.

CALVARY has been a member of and subject to the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of Baltimore since its founding in 1911 and has, until the latter part of 1975 or early part of 1976, been a full voting participant in the affairs of the Presbytery. For the past 64 years, from 1911 through 1975, the CALVARY session regularly submitted its records to the Presbytery for review and approval in accordance with the Form of Government. . . .

"The first official record of any conflict between the members of the CALVARY session and the Presbytery appears in the minutes of the regular meeting of the session held June 11, 1975. The minutes relfect (sic ) the following entry:

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