McNeilly v. First Presbyterian Church in Brookline

• Decision Date: 04 January 1923
• Citation: 137 N.E. 691,243 Mass. 331
• Parties: McNEILLY et al. v. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BROOKLINE et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

243 Mass. 331

137 N.E. 691

McNEILLY et al.

v.FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BROOKLINE et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Jan. 4, 1923.

Case Reserved from Supreme Judicial Court, Suffolk County.

Suit by Samuel J. McNeilly and others against the First Presbyterian Church in Brookline and others. Reserved by a single Justice upon the substitute bill of complaint, answer, and case stated for the determination of the full court. Bill dismissed.

Complainants sought an injunction restraining defendants from using any of the property of the church corporation except in accordance with the government, discipline, doctrine and worship of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; from allowing one Curtis to preach or conduct religious services in the church edifice or to occupy the manse except with the approval of the Boston Presbytery; from paying Curtis any money of the corporation as salary or otherwise except for services rendered with the consent of the Presbytery; and from interfering with ministers sent by the Presbytery to fill the pulpit and conduct religious services. The suit was submitted on a case stated the material facts in which are given in the opinion.Daniel A. Rollins, of Boston, for complainants.

Dolan, Morson & Stebbins, of Boston, for respondents.

RUGG, C. J.

This is a suit in equity brought by certain members of the First Presbyterian Church in Brookline, in behalf of themselves and others in interest, against the religious society incorporated under that name and certain persons who are members and trustees of that religious society. Before stating the nature of the present controversy, brief reference will be made to the Presbyterian Church established in the United States as set forth in the record. The ecclesiastical organization of that denominationconsists of five integral bodies or organizations, all of which, except the church and congregation, are called ecclesiastical courts or judicatories.

(1) The church and congregation consist of a number of persons, believing in the doctrines, worship, discipline, church order, and ordinances of Presbyterianism, associated for the purpose of conducting and maintaining public worship. The congregation is composed of members in full communion, who have made public confession of faith, have been received as members, are entitled to the sacraments and subject to the discipline of the church, and adherents who although not members attend church with some degree of regularity and contribute to its support.

(2) The session is composed of two or more men, elected from their own number by the members in full communion of the church and designated elders, and the regularly installed pastor, or, if there be none, a member of the presbytery by it designated for that purpose. The session has charge of the spiritual welfare of the congregation and the right to direct and control the use of the church edifice or building used for purposes of worship.

(3) The presbytery consists of all the regularly installed pastors of the Presbyterian churches within a designated territory (being approximately greater Boston in the case at bar), Presbyterian ministers residing therein not acting as pastors, and one elder from each church therein elected by its session.

(4) The synod comprises the ministers and elders composing at least three presbyteries or representatives thereof, New England being the synodical district for this part of the country.

(5) The general assembly consists of an equal delegation of ministers and elders from each presbytery in the United States in proportion to size. An appeal may be maintained from the session to the presbytery, from the presbytery to the synod, and from the synod to the general assembly, the decision of the superior ecclesiastical judicatory being binding upon all those inferior to it.

So far as appears, all these five bodies may be voluntary unincorporated associations, established for the maintenance of the ecclesiastical tenets, practices, and discipline of the denomination.

At the times here material Brookline was within the territorial jurisdiction of the Boston presbytery. The facts respecting the particular church involved in this controversy are that in January, [243 Mass. 335]1894, certain persons in Brookline and its vicinity petitioned the presbytery of Boston to organize a Presbyterian church in Brookline. Such church was organized in May, 1894, by the Boston presbytery in accordance with the ecclesiastical polity of the Presbyterian church of the United States of America. Since its organization in 1894 until 1922 the Brookline church as a spiritual body organized by the Boston presbytery has continued to exist and to maintain public worship in accordance with the government, discipline, doctrine, and worship of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America and has participated in the administration of the several judicatories of that church pursuant to its rights and privileges. This will hereafter be designated as the church.

In February, 1895, at a meeting of the congregation it was voted ‘to raise funds for a permanent place of worship,’ and something over one thousand dollars was raised for that purpose prior to April 29, 1896. On that date a religious society under the name of the First Presbyterian Church in Brookline was incorporated under Pub. Stats. c. 38, §§ 24, 25 and 26, now G. L. c. 67, §§ 21, 22, 23. This religious society hereafter will be designated the corporation. It adopted certain by-laws, the second of which was:

‘Its discipline, doctrine and worship shall be that of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America as held by the General Assembly of that Church.’

On the following day the corporation acquired title to land in Brookline with a dwelling house thereon, the purchase price of which was paid in part by the one thousand dollars theretofore raised. The deed to the corporation contained no trust or condition of any kind. A church building was erected on this lot and used for public worship. This property was sold in 1912 and its proceeds used in part towards the reduction of a mortgage on other church property bought in 1910, since used for public worship. The deed of conveyance of this property also was in fee simple and contained no trust or conditions. Payment for this property was made in part by subscriptions and bequests of persons who were members in full communion of the church and in part by assumption of a mortgage. In 1921 a dwelling house was purchased by the corporation and known thereafter as the manse, the deed thereof being in fee simple without trust or condition. Gifts and legacies of considerable sums have come to the corporationfree from express trust or condition. All members of the corporation are members of the church in full communion and a great majority, though not all, of the members of the church in full communion are members of the corporation.

The present controversy arises out of disagreements between the Boston presbytery and the Brookline church and corporation concerning its pastor. Rev. Edwin Curtis, a congregational minister in and a citizen of Great Britain, supplied the pulpit of the Brookline church for a time under conditions consonant with Presbyterian polity. Thereafter in February, 1921, at a lawful meeting of the congregation of the Brookline church, a call was voted to be extended to Rev. Mr. Curtis to become its pastor. In conformity to the requirements of the Presbyterian polity a record thereof was made and transmitted to the Boston presbytery for its action, which alone has the power to extend a call to become such pastor. The Boston presbytery voted that Mr. Curtis be received on probation until February, 1922. In February, 1922, the Boston presbytery voted not to receive Mr. Curtis into the presbytery and that he terminate his relation with the Brookline church April 1, 1922. According to the polity of the Presbyterian church, an evangelical minister (who is not a Presbyterian minister) from a foreign country cannot be received except conditionally, nor be installed as minister until he has been on probation for one year. The presbytery has power to refuse to forward a call of a congregation to any minister and at any time may dissolve the pastoral relation without consent of church or congregation. A Presbyterian church cannot extend a valid call to a minister not of that sect coming from a foreign country until the expiration of such year of probation: No minister whatever can accept a call to a Presbyterian church until he has been unconditionally received by and becomes a member of the presbytery to which such church belongs. Thus it appears that Rev. Mr. Curtis, although he had served the probationary period, could not become pastor of the Brookline church according to the Presbyterian polity because the Boston presbytery declind to receive him unconditionally and permit him to become a member of it and because it refused to approve and extend a call to him to become pastor of the Brookline church but voted that his relations with that church terminate at a specified date. Thereupon, at the annual meeting of the corporation of the Brookline Presbyterian religious society, held on April 12, 1922, upon a sufficient warrant duly warned, it was voted to amend its by-laws by inserting a new article to the effect that--

‘Any pastor or minister who shall have been regularly ordained according to the rules, customs, usages or practices of any Evangelical church or denomination shall be eligible for election as pastor or minister of this church or society. He shall be elected annually by this society and for a term of one year.’

At the same meeting Rev. Mr. Curtis was elected pastor for one year. Communication of this election was made tot he Boston presbytery. It is agreed...