Chapter 67

Section 1. Every religious society heretofore established or organized under any statute shall continue a body corporate with the powers given to such corporations by law, and with the powers, privileges, liabilities and duties set forth in this chapter; but this chapter shall no…

Section 10. The assessors or standing committee may be elected for such term, not exceeding three years, as the parish or religious society may by vote or by-law prescribe, and the vote or by-law may provide that the term of office of the assessors or members of the standing comm…

Section 11. The prudential affairs of such societies shall be managed by their assessors or by a standing committee, who, unless the by-laws otherwise provide, shall have like authority for calling meetings as selectmen have for calling town meetings.

Section 12. If there are no assessors or committee, or if such officers unreasonably refuse to call a meeting, a justice of the peace may, upon the application of five or more membors, call a meeting in the manner provided in section twenty-two.

Section 13. Meetings shall be warned in the manner provided by any by-law or vote of the society, or, if no such provision has been made, in such manner as the assessors or standing committee in their warrant may direct.

Section 14. The assessors or committee shall insert in the warrant for a meeting any matter the insertion of which five or more members of the society may in writing request. Nothing shall be acted upon at a meeting unless the subject matter thereof was inserted in the warrant.

Section 15. The clerk or, if there is no clerk or if he is absent, one of the assessors or of the standing committee shall preside in the choice of a moderator, after which a clerk may be chosen, either pro tempore or to fill the vacancy. The moderator may administer the oath of …

Section 16. If the person who is chosen collector is present and accepts the office, he shall forthwith be sworn. If not present, he shall be summoned to take the oath by a constable or by any person whom the clerk or assessors appoint for the purpose. Upon the refusal or neglect…

Section 17. A religious society may, at its annual meeting or at any other meeting regularly notified seven days at least before the holding thereof, grant and vote money necessary for the settlement and support of ministers or public teachers of religion, for the building or rep…

Section 18. No parish or religious society shall assess taxes on the polls or estates of its members; but pews may be assessed as heretofore. No member of any territorial or other parish shall, as such, be personally liable for any debt or obligation of the parish incurred after …

Section 19. A religious society may, under sections thirty-three and thirty-four, for the purpose of altering, enlarging, removing or rebuilding its house or building a new house, take down any pews therein or sell the house.

Section 2. Religious societies, incorporated or unincorporated, shall continue to have and enjoy their existing rights, privileges and immunities, except as limited or modified by this chapter.

Section 20. The terms ''religious society'' and ''society'' in the preceding sections shall include parishes.

Section 21. An unincorporated religious society, if it contains ten or more members, male or female, may become a corporation, and may hold so much real and personal estate as may be necessary for the objects of such organization, and no more.

Section 22. A justice of the peace, upon written application by five or more of the members of such society, may issue his warrant directed to one of the applicants, stating the objects of the proposed meeting, and requiring him to warn the members of the society to meet at a tim…

Section 23. Ten or more persons, male or female, who desire to form a religious society, may make written application therefor to a justice of the peace, who may thereupon issue his warrant, directed to one of the applicants, stating the objects of the proposed society, and requi…

Section 24. Persons owning or proposing to build a house of public worship may organize in the manner provided by the preceding section, and shall thereupon become a corporation with the powers and subject to the duties set forth in chapter one hundred and fifty-five and in the f…

Section 25. Such corporation may hold so much real and personal estate, in addition to its meeting house, as may be necessary for its objects, and no more; and the annual income thereof shall be applied to parochial purposes.

Section 26. The clerk of such corporation, within ten days after the meeting at which it was organized, shall file with the state secretary a true copy of the record of the proceedings of its organization; otherwise the organization shall be void.

Section 27. Such corporation, at a legal meeting called for the purpose, may vote to alter, enlarge, repair, rebuild or remove its house, or to build a new one, and may vote the money necessary for such purpose and for the purchase of the land necessary therefor; and such corpora…

Section 28. A religious society incorporated under a special act shall have the powers set forth in the preceding section, anything contained in any special act of incorporation or amendment thereof, or in section one, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Section 29. A meeting for any purpose mentioned in section twenty-seven may be called in the manner prescribed in the by-laws or votes of the corporation, or, upon written application by any five of its members, by a warrant issued by a justice of the peace, directed to one of th…

Section 3. Churches connected and associated in public worship with such religious societies shall continue to have, exercise and enjoy all their accustomed privileges and liberties respecting divine worship, church order and discipline, and shall be encouraged in the peaceable a…

Section 30. Money voted by such corporation may be assessed on the pews in its meeting house, and the assessment may be committed to its treasurer, who shall forthwith give notice by posting an advertisement on the principal outer door of the meeting house, stating the making of …

Section 31. The treasurer, at least three weeks before the time of the sale of a pew for taxes, shall post a notice of the intended sale on the principal outer door of the meeting house, stating the number of the pew, if any; the name of the owner or occupant, if known; and the a…

Section 32. An affidavit, annexed to an original notice or to a copy thereof and recorded on the records of the corporation within six months after the sale, shall be proof of the posting of such notice.

Section 33. Such corporation, for the purpose of building a new house, or of altering, enlarging, repairing, rebuilding or removing a house already built, may sell the same or take down any pews therein, the pews taken being first appraised by three or more disinterested persons …

Section 34. The preceding section shall not entitle a person to compensation for a pew taken down in a meeting house which is unfit for the purposes of public worship.

Section 35. A corporation for religious purposes may assess upon the pews in a church or meeting house which it has erected or procured for public worship since March twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and forty-five, according to a valuation of said pews previously agreed upon, and …

Section 36. Such corporation which had erected or procured such house prior to said date may avail itself of the provisions of the preceding section, if the consent of all the pew owners is obtained, or if two thirds of its members present and voting at a meeting called for that …

Section 37. A corporation which votes to avail itself of the provisions of section thirty-five shall, upon the application of a person owning a pew in its house, within one year after said vote, purchase such pew at the value determined by three disinterested persons, one of whom…

Section 38. Pews shall be personal estate.

Section 39. In religious societies belonging to the Protestant Episcopal Church or the Reformed Episcopal Church, the rector or one of the wardens may, unless otherwise provided in some by-law, preside at their meetings with all the powers of a moderator; and the wardens, or ward…

Section 4. A religious society may make by-laws consistent with law, prescribing the manner in which persons may become members and the mode of calling and warning its meetings, and regulating the management of its affairs.

Section 40. The trustees of any society of the United Methodist Church, or of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, appointed according to the Discipline or usages thereof, respectively, or as such society chooses, may organize and become a corporation with the powers and dutie…

Section 41. Such trustees may receive, hold and manage all the real and personal property belonging to such society, may sell and convey the same, and may hold in trust gifts, grants, bequests or devises to such society for the support of public worship and for other religious pu…

Section 42. The first meeting of such trustees may, upon the application of three or more of them, be called by a justice of the peace, and at such meeting the trustees may choose a secretary and other officers. The provisions of this chapter relative to the warning and organizat…

Section 43. An attested copy of the record of the proceedings at such organization shall be filed with the state secretary, within the time prescribed in section twenty-six; otherwise the organization shall be void.

Section 44. The Roman Catholic archbishop or bishop of the diocese in which a Roman Catholic church is erected or intended to be erected, the vicar-general of such diocese and the pastor of such church, for the time being, or a majority of them, may associate with themselves two …

Section 45. The successor of any archbishop, bishop, vicar-general or pastor shall, by virtue of his office, be for the time being a member of such corporation in place of his predecessor; and such laymen shall hold office respectively for one year; and when the office of any suc…

Section 46. Such corporation may receive, hold and manage all real and personal property belonging to such church; may sell and convey the same; and may hold in trust gifts, grants, bequests or devises to such church for the support of public worship and for other religious purpo…

Section 47. Any church may be incorporated under the following sections.

Section 48. A notice, signed by one or more of the members of such church, stating the object, time and place of the meeting for its incorporation, and the first election of officers, shall, at least fifteen days before such meeting, be posted in a conspicuous place near one of t…

Section 49. At the time and place stated in said notice, the resident members of such church may assemble at their place of worship and by ballot elect a moderator, a clerk, who shall be sworn, a treasurer, a standing committee of not less than three nor more than twenty-four mem…

Section 5. A person belonging to such society shall continue a member thereof until he files with the clerk a written declaration of the dissolution of his membership; but after filing such notice he shall not be liable for any grant or contract thereafter made on entered into by…

Section 50. The church may make by-laws and may prescribe therein the manner in which and the officers and agents by whom the purposes of its incorporation may be effected. If no provision is made by a vote or by-law of the church for calling meetings, they shall be called in suc…

Section 51. The standing committee or other officers shall certify the organization of such church to the state secretary, in such form as he shall prescribe; and upon payment of a fee of five dollars to the secretary shall perform the same duties and with the same legal effect a…

Section 52. None but members of such church shall be members of such corporation, and only resident members shall vote; but any such corporation may, upon such conditions as it may prescribe, admit any regular financial supporters of the church to associate membership, with a vot…

Section 53. The deacons, wardens, trustees or similar officers of a church so incorporated which holds real or personal property under chapter sixty-eight may, subject to the same uses and trusts as when held by them, convey it to said church.

Section 54. Any religious society connected with a church so incorporated may, at any meeting called for the purpose, by a three fourths vote, authorize one or more persons in its name and behalf to convey any real or personal property belonging to it to such church, and such pro…