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Court’s Final Decision: Holy Trinity in Chicago Will Be Sold

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CHICAGO – A Chicago Court issued its final decision late Friday evening, October 25 that the sale of the nave of the historic Holy Trinity parish of Chicago should proceed.

As TNH had reported on October 10, the Court had issued an order on October 3 that temporarily froze the sale of the nave of Holy Trinity.

It is reminded here that on September 10 the sale of the nave had been authorized for the price of $2.5 million dollars to the religious organization Universal Life Church.

Judge Timothy A. Barnes in his lengthy decision made reference to the Uniform Parish Regulations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as to who has the authority the local Metropolitan or the members of the parish. He stated that there was “ambiguity.”

The Judge wrote in his decision among other things the following: “The Uniform Regulations define  the  Metropolitan as “[t]he head Hierarch of  a Metropolis,” (Id. at p.  ix.) Here, the  Metropolitan of  the Metropolis containing the Debtor is  Metropolitan Nathaniel, the Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox  Church of  Chicago, Debtor’s Resp., Exh. A (the  “Approval of the  Metropolitan”), and  Metropolitan  Nathaniel  has  apparently  given  hierarchical approval  for  the  sale.    Id. The  crux  of  the  Concerned  Parishioners’  argument  is,  however,  that  while  such  approval may  have  been  obtained,  as  the  approval  of  two-thirds  of  the  parishioners  was  not,  the  sale  is unauthorized.    The  Opposing  Parties,  on  the  other  hand,  argue  that  the  two-thirds  vote  requirement is  simply  a  procedure  to  ensure  that  the  Hierarch  is  not  burdened  with  such  requests.    According  to the  Opposing  Parties,  such  procedure  is  one  of  convenience  for  the  Hierarch  but  is  not  an  actual vested  right  of  the  parishioners. Here  is  where  neutral  principles  of  law  cease  to  be  illuminating.    To  accept  the  Concerned Parishioners’  argument,  the  court  must  conclude  that  the  Archdiocese,  in  approving  the  Uniform Regulations,  intended  to  divest  the  higher  authorities  within  the  church  from  making  decisions.   There  is  some  evidence  to  support  that.    See  Uniform  Regulations,  art.  10,  sec.  2(M)  (setting  forth the  Metropolitan’s  responsibilities  and  rights  to  include  approving  the  purchase,  sale,  lease, mortgaging  or  other  encumbrance  of  the  real  property  of  a  Parish,  but  procedurally  in  accordance with  Article  16,  quoted  above).    This  might  be  read  to  limit  the  Metropolitan’s  authority  in  this regard.    It  might  also,  however,  be  read  as  the  Debtor  suggests,  as  a  procedural  convenience.    The language,  in  this  context,  is  ambiguous. By  the  same  token,  for  the  court  to  conclude  that  the  church  intended  to  vest  in  its parishioners  a  property  right  sufficient  to  require  service  under  Bankruptcy  Rule  6004(c)  and sufficient  to  create  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  outcome  of  the  sale,  the  court  must  attempt  to  answer fundamental  questions  of  the  church’s  treatment  of  its  parishioners. Interpreting  that  ambiguity  and  resolving  those  fundamental  questions  would  require  this court  to  probe  into  the  allocation  of  power  within  the  church,  to  attempt  to  posit  the  church’s  intent and  polity  regarding  the  rights  of  its  parishioners.”

The Judge concluded that “here, those facts and circumstances require that the Rule 60 Motion be denied. CONCLUSION For all of the foregoing reasons, the court concludes that the Chicago Sale Order is not appropriately subject to reconsideration in this matter and must, therefore, be denied.

Dated: October 25, 2019  Timothy A. Barnes United States Bankruptcy Judge.”

The post Court’s Final Decision: Holy Trinity in Chicago Will Be Sold appeared first on The National Herald.


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