Roman Catholic Church Property.
A CASE in a Cleveland Court seems to show that the Roman Church property in the United States is not in a securely transmissible condition. The main features of the case are these: The title to the Church property is in the name of the bishop; not the bishop officially, nor in succession, nor in trust, but in Amadeus Rappe, who was the bishop, but resigned, and the diocese is now ruled by the Rev. Edward Hannin, “administrator” during the vacancy. We infer that the title to all the property that church is in the same manner in the name of the person who holds the office of bishop. The congregation of the parish of St. Bridget desired to rebuild and enlarge their church. In this they were encouraged by Bishop Rappe (pronounced Rap) They raised about eighteen thousand dollars, appointed a building committee and made a contract involving an expenditure of about twenty-eight thousand dollars, and the contractor began tearing down, when Father Hannin, claiming as administrator to hold the title to the lot, procured a temporary injunction. On a motion to dissolve this, the case was presented and argued at great length. It appears that all that Father Hannin could show for his title was the law of the Roman Church making such a succession to the title. The judge held that he could not recognize a law of the Roman Church as setting aside the laws of Ohio as to the conveyance of real estate. Therefore he dissolved the injunction, on the ground that Father Hannin, who applied for it, had no legal title to the property.