CATHOLIC CHURCH TITLES IN THE PHILIPPINES.
By Homer C. Stuntz
[By the Rev. Homer C. Stuntz, Superintendent Methodist Mission in the Philippines, in the Independent.] THE Manila courts have decided that church buildings built for and used by the Catholic Church prior to American occupancy belong to the church, and can not be alienated from its ownership by those who gave the funds for their erection, even when they have all become Protestants. The decision is not altogether a surprise to those who contended most earnestly for the opposing view, and is a matter for gratitude to not a few of the warmest friends of Protestantism, as it puts us in the right attitude toward the church which has held undisputed sway here for so many centuries. If congregations could have transferred the church edifices which their money erected to Protestant bodies, such transfer would have been attempted in many cases, and thus Protestantism would have appeared in the unlovely rôle of a receiver of cast-off ecclesiastical properties, an almoner upon the list of Rome. Gagalangin is a suburb of Manila. In that suburb a small wayside chapel was built years ago for the convenience of the neighborhood. In this building christenings, weddings, and funerals of those living in the immediate vicinity were held. Priests from the large Tondo church, about a mile away, would come down to this little chapel, for a consideration always, and baptize, or marry, or say mass. For many years the chapel had been practically unused. It had fallen into the state of “innocuous desuetude” of which a certain president once wrote. Then came the insurrection. Insurgents used it for “cover.” The priest no longer dared venture forth so far on ghostly errands. Then followed the unhappy disagreement between the American and Filipino forces, with the war that is hardly yet closed. All the Gagalangin suburb was fought over. The little chapel suffered sorely. Soldiers stripped it of all they could use. Thieves, who always follow in war’s wake, left little that was movable, even going to the length of removing part of the corrugated iron roof. Then came peace in that end of the city. American arms had driven the insurgent forces north, past Malabon, Caloocan, Calumpit, Malolos and on, as the world well knows. Then came Methodism into that part of the city. Many dwellers in this low-lying, bay-fronting suburb became converted. Looking about for a place in which to hold services for the many who came to hear the Word, what more natural than to use the deserted building? Their money had built it. In it they had been accustomed to worship in the days that were earlier. No priest now ventured near it. Hence forty or more heads of families united in a written request for the Methodists to take possession. This they did. And then there was trouble! Bitter opposition was at once aroused. Roman Catholics saw in this act on the part of their one-time flock at Gagalangin a possible precedent which might well come home to plague them unless it were promptly and vigorously opposed. Complaint was made to the Provost-Marshal. He sent one of his inspectors, who reported it illegal for Protestants to occupy the chapel. A priest or friar went out and locked the shattered door, forbidding further use as a place of Protestant services. But the stout objectors laughed at priestly lock and forbearance, calmly entered by a roomy breach in one of the rear walls, and went on with their services. Then action was begun looking to a decision of the matter by the courts. The decision is now published, and is in substance what was stated in the opening sentence of this article. The decision sets forth the peculiar method of holding property for church use which prevails in episcopally-governed churches. In such churches all church edifices are held in trust for the corporate body and are not owned by the local society, much less the local neighborhood, which furnished the needful funds for their erection. It sets forth the fact, which is not well known in many Protestant circles, that all properties of the Roman Catholic Church are held by the archbishop of the diocese for the church. The moment a building is set apart by the rites of the church for use as a Roman Catholic building, that moment the title is vested in the archbishop ex officio. If there are taxes to pay he pays them out of diocesan funds. If there are titles to convey afterward, he conveys on behalf of the church. That being the case, there was nothing for the courts to do but to decide that in law the Methodist occupants of the building were in error and must cease their use of it. The title is vested in the archbishop of the diocese of Manila, and tho it stand idle until it falls to a heap of dust, Protestants must desist from using it. The congregation still fails to see the law point. The equity of the matter fills all their vision. But they have dropped it. I went out at once, called them all together and had it carefully explained that the decision was in exact conformity to the law, and that we must be law-abiding and comply with the mandate of the courts, for the powers that be are ordained of God. Then I said to them that personally I was glad that it had been decided that we could not hold the building, nor any other building built for and used by the Roman Catholics. I told them what I really believe, that as Protestants we did not need to be pensioners upon Catholic funds; that our new Protestant wine would keep much sweeter in new ecclesiastical bottles, and that I hoped they would rally at once and raise among themselves the funds needed to build a neat, commodious church in which the rites of Rome had never been performed. I promised to furnish part of the funds—$50—if they would find as much more. They have already met their part of the contract, and the church is now being built. It is made of bamboo, and will have a thatch roof of nipa palm—neat, cool, clean, and roomy and wholly destitute of associations that lead men and women to cross themselves when they enter, or look about for holy water or for the mysteries connected with a candle-studded altar. It will be a clean, wholesome Methodist church, with a neat bamboo altar, and seating for two hundred and fifty people. When it is done, we shall plan for a series of meetings in Gagalangin that will warm the hearts of the people who have so bravely borne what was to them a deep disappointment. By the time this is in print, these meetings will probably be in progress. The wider question of the titles to properties in Manila and elsewhere, claimed alike by the government and the church, will soon be tossed into the judicial arena here. The new courts are grinding. Distinguished American judges are clearing the swamped dockets of Courts of First Instance with a rapidity that is as gratifying to Americans as it is bewildering to Spaniards and Filipinos. The new Attorney-General, Judge Willfley, of St. Louis will look after the interests of the government. The property at stake runs away up into the millions.9The decision of it will finally rest with the Supreme Court of the United States. Neither party will be willing to abide by the decision of local courts. The American people may look for a battle of giants when this wider issue is once joined. Manila, Philippine Islands.