271 Pa. 447 | Pa. | 1921
Opinion by
This suit in equity between factions is to determine the right of use and control of church property. In 1905, a group of people, speaking the Slavish language, met at Lyndora in Butler County to organize a church. The following year they erected a building, and in 1907 were granted a charter under the name of, and since known as, St. Michael’s Greek Catholic Church. In 1919 the church trustees, with the approval of a majority of the membership, chose the defendant, Rev. Gregory Kobasa, as priest or pastor of the church. He was not a Catholic, but at first conducted the services according to the forms and ritual of that faith, to which some members of the church objected, whereupon he changed the form of worship to that of the Russian Orthodox Church; then a minority of the membership, adhering to
A Uniat Catholic Church is one where prayers are offered for the pope and where he is recognized as head of the church. The question was raised as to whether a Greek Catholic Church was necessarily of that character; and from the evidence the chancellor finds as a fact, “Ecclesiastically and historically Greek Catholic and Uniat Greek Catholic are synonymous terms and signify a church which acknowledges the supremacy of the Holy See at Rome.” Among other findings tending to support the chancellor’s, conclusion that this is a Catholic church are, in substance, that on the corner stone are carved the words, “St. Michael’s Greek Catholic Church”; that every one who ministered in that church or to the congregation from its organization in 1905 until the coming of Kobasa in 1919, was a Uniat Greek Catholic priest, sent by a Catholic bishop, and conducted the services according to the rites, usages and customs of that denomination, and the church contributed to its diocesan fund; that Bishop Ortynsky of the Greek Catholic Church held services in this church and is named as a trustee in one of the deeds to the church;
The first pastor of the church was a Uniat Greek Catholic priest, who testified he was present at the meeting for its organization and solicited subscriptions to build it and in effect that it was from its inception a Greek Catholic church.
The testimony for the defendants, including several witnesses present at the organization and the minutes kept on that occasion, is to the effect that it was to be a Greek Russian Church, or a Russian Orthodox Church, at least a non-Catholic church. Some of the proof tends to show it was an independent church and selected or at least approved the selection of its pastors.
While there is a sharp conflict in the evidence, it cannot be affirmed that the chancellor’s findings of fact are clearly wrong; therefore, they must be accepted. The facts as found justify the decree entered; for the law is clear that even a majority faction cannot divert a church from the purpose for which it was established, and those adhering to that purpose, though a minority, are the true congregation: Schnorr’s Appeal, 67 Pa. 138. A faction cannot introduce vital changes in forms and fundamental doctrine and at the same time assert the right of possession and control of the church property: Kieinko v.
Admittedly Kobasa is not a Catholic; hence, the church in question having been found to be one of that faith, it was beyond the power of its trustees, and the majority faction of the congregation, to authorize him to act as pastor thereof, and the decree properly excludes him from so doing and directs the admission of the duly appointed Catholic priest.
The decree is affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of appellants.