St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Woonsocket v. Bohachewsky

• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: RATHBUN, J.
• Citation: St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Woonsocket v. Bohachewsky, 48 R.I. 234, 136 A. 878 (R.I. 1927)
• Decision Date: 13 April 1927
• Docket Number: No. 732.,732.
• Parties: ST. MICHAEL'S UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH OF WOONSOCKET v. BOHACHEWSKY et al.

136 A. 878

ST. MICHAEL'S UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH OF WOONSOCKET

v. BOHACHEWSKY et al.

No. 732.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

April 13, 1927.

Sweeney, J., dissenting.

Appeal from Superior Court, Providence & Bristol Counties; Herbert L. Carpenter, Judge.

Bill by St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Woonsocket, R. I., against Constantine Bohachewsky and another for an injunction, heard jointly, with a bill for injunctive relief brought by respondent named against complainant. Decree for complainant, and respondents appeal. Appeal dismissed; decree appealed from affirmed; and cause remanded.

Patrick P. Ourran, Hoyt W. Lark, and Curran, Hart, Gainer & Carr, all of Providence, for appellants.

Everett L. Walling, of Providence, John R. Higgins, of Woonsocket, for appellee.

RATHBUN, J. This is a bill in equity to restrain the respondents from interfering with the complainant (which is a corporation) and its officers and members in the free use of its property, which comprises a parcel of land with a church and parish house thereon; also to determine the respective rights of the parties relative to the use of said property. The cause is before us on the respondents' appeal from a decree of the superior court temporarily enjoining the respondents from such interference.

The complainant contends that the corporation was formed and the church property acquired with the intention that the organization should be and remain an independent church with no affiliation with, and subject to no jurisdiction of, the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The respondents not only deny this contention, but contend that, even if the church in question was organized and incorporated as an independent church, the corporation thereafter, by vote of its members, voluntarily affiliated itself with the Church of Rome, and voluntarily placed its property under the jurisdiction and control of said church.

Respondent Bohachewsky is, by appointment of the Pope, the Greek Catholic Bishop of North America. Respondent Chlib Werchowsky, who is the pastor of the church in question, received his appointment from said bishop, and assumes, under his direction, to control the affairs of said church, and to officiate as pastor thereof against the wishes of the officers of the corporation, and, as the complainant contends, contrary to the wishes of the great majority of the members of the corporation. Before the incorporation the church society existed as a voluntary association.

For the purpose of showing that the voluntary association was incorporated as a church with the intention that it should be independent of the Church of Rome, the complainant introduced the articles of association issued by the secretary of state of the state of Rhode Island November 22, 1909, whereby seven individuals of the city of Woonsocket were granted a charter under the general laws of the state. By said charter the corporate name was fixed as "St. Michael's Greek Catholic Ruthenian Church of Woonsocket." The charter specified that the purpose of the corporation was:

"Forming an organization for religious association and for charitable purposes. To purchase and hold land and buildings thereon for religious and charitable purposes. To purchase and hold land to be used for the burial of the members of said society."

It is clear that the corporation in 1923 voted to change the name of the corporation by inserting the word "Ukrainian" in lieu of the word "Ruthenian." The amendment, as filed with the secretary of state, purported to amend the charter not only as to name, but so as to place the church in affiliation with the Church of Rome and the property of the corporation under the dominion of the Greek Catholic Bishop of North America, so that said property could not be alienated without the consent of said bishop or his successor in office. Considerable testimony was introduced to the effect that the members of the corporation not only never voted to amend the charter, except as to name, but that no proposition to amend the charter, other than as to name, was ever submitted for consideration to a meeting of the corporation. On the books of the corporation is a record which purports to show a vote to secure an amendment to the charter substantially in accordance with the amended articles which were later filed with the secretary of state.

The complainant contends that the amendment, except as to name, was procured by fraud of the person who was pastor of the church at that time, and that, until the present difficulty reached a climax, the members of the corporation were entirely ignorant of the fact that any attempt had been made to amend the charter except as to name. The secretary who wrote said record testified that he truly recorded the vote to obtain an amendment to the charter as to name, and that he thereafter, because of fear brought about by threats and intimidations by the person who was pastor at the time, tore from the record book, at his command, the pages on which had been recorded the actual vote as to obtaining an amendment to the charter, and wrote into the record book, from a copy supplied by said pastor, the record now in question. An examination of the record book discloses that pages of said book have been removed. The secretary testified that he, as soon as possible thereafter, resigned because of fear as to the consequences of his act, and that a certified copy of the record in question was obtained from him by said pastor, to be filed with the secretary of state, by misrepresenting the nature of a written document, which was a translation of said record into the English language, and required him, when he was no longer secretary, to certify, as though he were secretary of the corporation, that the document was a true copy of the record of proceedings at a meeting of the corporation.

It appears that since the incorporation most, if not all, of the pastors of the church have been priests in communion with the Church of Rome; that the corporation requested said bishop to remove respondent Werchowsky as pastor; and that, when the bishop refused to accede to the request, a large number of the members of the corporation refused to attend services at the church, picketed the church for a time, and finally drove the pastor from the church by pelting him with eggs. Thereafter Bishop Bohachewsky filed in the superior court a bill in equity to enjoin certain members of the corporation from doing acts to prevent said Werchowsky from conducting religious services in the church edifice, and to enjoin said members from interfering with such services. Thereupon the complainant herein brought this bill to obtain an injunction against said bishop and pastor. The two bills were heard together by a justice of said court on their respective prayers for a preliminary injunction. After an extended hearing, at which the merits of the controversy were considered at length, the bishop's prayer for temporary relief was denied, and a decree was entered enjoining, until further order of the court, the bishop and pastor from interfering with the church assets and property, including the parish house and church edifice, from interfering with the complainant as to selecting a pastor, and from interfering with any pastor or other persons selected by the complainant to conduct religious services, with a proviso that respondent Werchowsky might for a period of 30 days continue to occupy the parish house.

The respondents contend that said justice abused his discretion, especially in entering...