206 Pa. 152 | Pa. | 1903
This appellant and plaintiff in the court below, I. N. W. Irvine, was a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church and in April of 1898 was in charge of St. John’s parish of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. This was a very old established church of the Episcopal denomination, but at the date mentioned had become somewhat weak numerically and financially, consequently, un
1. That defendants conspired to have plaintiff unlawfully deposed from the ministry.
2. That they conspired by unlawful means, to injure his reputation and standing as a Christian minister.
In the large mass of testimony adduced the court could find nothing to sustain either charge, nor can we. Undoubtedly defendants combined to prefer charges against Irvine in the church court and acted in concert to support the charges by what they and the court considered evidence. This was not unlawful, although their action was tinctured with vindictiveness in some particulars. They wanted him deposed from the ministry because they professed to believe him unfit for the office, and they sustained their belief by proof which convinced the court. That they also hated him and by their course possibly gratified less worthy motives than those which prompt a true Christian to action is of no moment, except in so far as it might have affected their credibility as witnesses before the court which tried him.
There is no law which imposes upon a common pleas jury the duty of passing upon the competency or impartiality of a church court. That court believed the evidence against Irvine ; therefore, their judgment, even if not approved by Irvine and his friends, and even though not impartial, is not unlawful. He had full notice of the charges, appeared and was heard ; the proceedings were lawful and pronounced so by a lawful court. This court, as we have said time and again, is not a court of review of the proceedings of ecclesiastical courts. As remarked in German Reformed Church v. Seibert, 3 Pa. 282, “ Civil courts, if they would be so unwise as to attempt to supervise the judgments of church courts, on matters which come within their jurisdiction, would only involve themselves in a sea of uncertainty and doubt which do anything but improve either religion or good morals.” Also see McGinnis v. Watson, 41 Pa. 9, Stack v. O’Hara, 98 Pa. 213, and Tuigg v. Sheehan, 101 Pa. 363.
Nor can we see any evidence, that defendants conspired by unlawful means to injure the rector in his reputation and standing. They preferred grave charges, supported by evi
All the assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.