83 Neb. 630 | Neb. | 1909
St. Vincent's parish, a religious corporation, brought this suit in the district court for Sev. ard county against the defendant, William Murphy, who, it is alleged, is a deposed priest of the Roman Catholic church, to restrain him from exercising any of the rights, faculties or privileges of a priest or rector in or upon the church property of the plaintiff, and from hindering, interfering with or in
His first contention is that the plaintiff’s petition does not state facts sufficient to confer jurisdiction of this case upon the district court for Seward county. A like proceeding was before this court in Pounder v. Ashe, 44 Neb. 672, where it was held that, where charges have been preferred against the minister of the gospel, and he has been deposed from such ministry, and expelled from membership in the church by the ecclesiastical tribunal having jurisdiction of such charges, the courts will recognize such-judgments when regularly brought to their notice, and will enjoin the one against whom they were rendered from further acting in the capacity of a minister or a member of the particular church organization, and will enjoin him from excluding from the church building and property a presiding elder of the church, or any of its members in good standing who desire to worship therein. This rule was approved and followed in Bonacum v. Harrington, 65 Neb. 831. That case was very like the one at bar. The defendant, Harrington, who was officiating as priest in the parish of Orleans, Nebraska, was expelled by the bishop of Lincoln from the church and from that parish. He refused to surrender the church property, and the bishop brought a suit in equity to restrain him from interfering with said property, and holding possession thereof to the exclusion of the parish priest who had been appointed to succeed him. The district court denied the injunction, but this court on appeal reversed the judgment and remanded the cause, with directions to the district court to enter a decree enjoining the defendant as prayed, and make the injunction perpetual. It will thus be seen
Defendant’s second contention is that the district court erred in' refusing to dismiss this action. The ground of his motion to dismiss was that the trustees of the parish were not duly notified to attend the meeting which authorized the bringing of this suit. It appears that the business affairs of the plaintiff are controlled and administered by a board of trustees, consisting of the bishop of Lincoln, the vicar-general of the diocese, the rector for the time being of the parish of St. Vincent, and two laymen, whose election must be confirmed by the bishop; that at the meeting called for the purpose of considering the matter of the commencement of this action there were present the bishop of Lincoln, the vicar-general of the diocese by proxy, rhe Reverend Francis A. O’Brien as rector of the parish, and one of the two laymen who had been regularly elected as a trustee. It also appears that one of the lay trustees was not notified of the meeting because he had withdrawn from the regular church organization and had become one of defendant’s adherents. It therefore appears that a majority of the regularly constituted board of trustees was present and took part in the proceedings of the meeting which authorized the commencement of this action. So we are of Opinion that the district court properly refused to dismiss the action upon the defendant’s application therefor.
We come now to consider the principal or main contention presented by the record. It appears that the bishop of the diocese of Lincoln on several occasions prior to the 22d of January, 1901, cited the defendant to appear before the diocesan curia at Lincoln, which is the ecclesiastical court of the Roman Catholic church having jurisdiction of all matters of church discipline, to show cause why he should not be proceeded against for contumacy and other
It is claimed by the defendant that his so-called appeals to Rome ousted the ecclesiastical court of jurisdiction; that the bishop had no right thereafter to proceed against him; that his appeal is still pending and undetermined; and that therefore he is still entitled to officiate as rector in St. Vincent’s parish to the exclusion of the rights of his regularly appointed successor. It is conceded that the diocesan curia had jurisdiction of the subject matter of
One of the first cases involving this question was that of Shannon v. Frost, 3 B. Mon. (Ky.) 253. In that case two discordant factions of the Baptist church were litigating their respective claims to the use of a house of public worship erected by that church upon ground conveyed in trust for its use and benefit, and it was there said: “This court, having no ecclesiastical jurisdiction, cannot revise or question ordinary acts of church discipline or excision. Our only judicial power in the case arises from the conflicting claims of the parties to the church property and the use of it. And these we must decide as we do all other civil controversies brought to this tribunal for ultimate decision. We cannot decide who ought to be members of the church, nor whether the excommunicated have been justly or unjustly, regularly, or irregularly, cut off from the body of the church. We must take the fact of expulsion as conclusive proof that the persons expelled are not now members of the repudiating church; for, whether right or wrong, the act of excommunication must, as to the fact of membership, be law to this court. For every judicial purpose in this case, therefore, we must consider the persons who were expelled by a vote of the church as no longer .members of that church, or entitled to any rights or privileges incidental to or resulting from membership therein.”
This disposes of all of the defendant’s contentions, and
Affirmed.