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1 Stack-O'Hara Case. Opinion 1872

handle is hein.trials/achl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: THE STACK-O'HARA CASE. OPINION BY HON. JAMES GAMBLE. F ev. M. P. Stack vs Right Rev. Wi. o'laa, move or transfer a priest from one mission or Common Plens of Lycoming county, sitting in congregation to another as he may judge fit In eQuity. No. 1 January term, 1872. the Lo d, however clearly established, confer up- This cau e comes before the court for final al- on him the authority to impose ecclesiastical judlcatlon on excepions to the master's report censure prohibition, suspension or other punish- These exceptions are sveciflc and comprehensive, ment, witbo,it observing the form of accusation, embracing the master's statement of the evi- !rial and judgment prescribed by the laws of the d~nce, his deductions and conclusions ther. from, church in the case of accusations againsL clerics as also his conclusions of law applicable to the or priests. case. The evidence as reported by the examiner Much of the evidence, however, relates to this consisting of over two hundred pages of printed quustlon of whethe the canon laws of the church matter, is filed with the master's report. The securing to parish priests the right of inamova- report comprises sixteen printed pages; at page btilty are in force In this country. I he master's six the master defines the questions raised and conclusion appears to be that the Catholic church discussed in the following two propositions: in the United States is still In a missionary state; The questions raised by the case are: to which the general or canon laws are not appli- 1st. Was the removal of the plaintiff as pas- cable; and that the decrees of the provincial and tor from the charge of his congregation by the plenary councils of Baltimore, as approved by the defendant as his bishop, warranted under the Holy See. comprise the supreme law for its gov- circuimstances of the case by the law of the ernment and diselpline.,T,,i may be,andunder the Cithollc church ? weight of evidence In this case, Probably is, an 2d. If It was not warranted by the law of the authorized conclusion, although It involves church will the law of the land afford the relief the singular phenomo non of a hierarchy depenl- asked for In the plaintiff's bill ? ent upon the canon laws of the church for its offi- The first proposition seems scarcely to em- cial authority, exercising undisputed jurisdiction brace the questions raised by the case. The by virtue of these laws, and yet denying their ap- mere removal of the plaintiff as pastor from the plication to the status of the church In this charge of his congregation is by no means all country. that is co-nplained of In the plaintiff's bill. The decrees of the plenary councils of Balti- It is true that one question raised by the bill, more having thus been declared to constitute the answer a-,d evidence, is whether by the laws of supreme laws fir the government of the church the Catholic church, as in force in this country, a in this country, a full and impartial statp- regularly ordained priest Invested with the pas- ment of such decrees became the duty of the torate of a congregation with oefined limits, Is master. Certain decrees relating to the powers not entitled to the same rights, including that of ana duties of bishops or ordinaries, were Intro- namova -lity, woich pertain to a pariso priest, duced In evidence by each of the parties. The under the general canon law of the church. This master has copied at length those introduced by question, however, loses much of its importance th3 defendant, and designated by Nos 108, 123, by what may be Properly denominated the grays- 124 and 125. These decrees confer on bishops men ot tt e complaint as specified in paragrapus the right of deputing to the sacred ministry vii and VIli of the plaintiff's bill, which charge priests into any whatsoever part of their dioceses the defendant with Imposing ecclesiastic cen- and recalling them thence as they (the bishops) Eure any punishment on the plaintiff, including judged fit in the I ord.' And admonishes priests the peremptory prosibition of the exercise of any That, mindful of the promise made n their ordina- priestly function, without a formal and regular tion,they should not refuse to attend any mission accusation, Investigation or trial, or any opportu- assigned by the bishop, if the bishop judge that nity afforded to explain or disprove any supposed there sufficient means can be had for decent sup- crime, fault or delinquency, in a manner and po t. and that that office suits the strength and upon grounds alleged, which axe unwarranted by health of the priests themselves. the law of thq Catholic church and contrary to If the bishop's act in this case was a mere the law of the land. transfer of the plaintiff from his appointment at t his charge, if sustained, supersedes the Im- Willlamsport, to some other appointment in the portance of the inquiry whether the right of Ina diocese dictated by the judgment that suchtrans- m,vability at the discretion of the bishop per- fer was fit in the Lord, then these decrees confer tained to the plaintiff's office as pastor of the undoubted authority for such action. But it, as church of the Annunciation, under the laws of charged by the plaintiff, it was founded upon an the Catholic church as recognized and ad- accusation and Imposed as a punishment, then ministered In this country. Because such these decrees have no relation to It whatever. g right it clearly established would not exempt Unfortunately the master has inadvertently him from ecclesiastical censure and punishment, omitted to state or directly allude to the deci ees Ipeludng prohibition and suspension, when aw- of this council introduced in evidence by the fully imposed. Nor does the bishop's right to re- plaintiff. 'his omission is made the subject of