Held 17 March 2002 at Patapsco Preparative Meeting
Hebron House, Ellicott City, MD

There were 15 Friends in attendance, including BYM General Secretary Frank Massey.

Clerk of the Ad Hoc Monthly Meeting Committee Ken Stockbridge opened the session after a brief period of silence.  The process for discernment and decision making were laid out, materials prepared by the committee were presented and questions were invited.  This report highlights only those items not clearly answered in the materials presented.

What is the role of trustees if the meeting were to incorporate?  Can trustees be limited by language in the Articles of Incorporation that states the trustees must act according to decisions reached in Meeting for Business according to Quaker “sense of the meeting”?  It was generally thought that in fact the trustees could be so limited.

It is important for the trustees to be clear about their role in relation to the meeting and in relation to the state.

Insurance Coverage:  Who is covered?  How does membership affect insurance coverage, if at all?  When we have regular attenders charged to act for the meeting, are they covered when acting in that capacity?

Burial Grounds:  Is more information available about who owns title to the Ellicott City Quaker cemetery?  Not really.  Friends Ron Mattson and Lamar Matthews are Quaker historians who might have some information about this.  Frank Massey asked Friends to seriously consider whether we want to take responsibility for the graveyard, given the financial and legal responsibility required for the upkeep of such property.

One Friend mentioned Joetta Graham, Howard County historian and member of the Mt. Hebron Presbyterian Church, as a possible source of information about the graveyard.

The meeting should negotiate/discuss clearly with Sandy Spring Friends Meeting about burial rights, but to what extent do Patapsco Friends care about this issue?  This could easily delay the process of becoming a monthly meeting for months.

Timing of Incorporation and Becoming a Monthly Meeting:  Who can we appoint trustees and have members for the new corporation when it doesn’t exist until approved by BYM?  How do we set up the timing of incorporation and becoming a monthly meeting so that there are not lapses in liability protection.  It was pointed out that insurance coverage will continue with the same protections regardless of our status (provided appropriate notice of changes is given).  There is some difference in the liability protection available due to incorporation and that afforded by insurance.  Friends could approve the decision to request monthly meeting status with the understanding that incorporation would be pursued as soon as it can be accomplished.

Frank Massey encouraged the meeting to have a conversation with Sandy Spring Clerk Betsy Meyer as soon as possible if we are seeking to bring this item to their business meeting in the next month or two.

Friends requested that the committee make specific recommendations for the meeting as to how best to proceed with the various matters involved.

A Friend asked about the value of a Quaker meeting organizing under the auspices of BYM.  Frank Massey shared the following:

• BYM is affiliated with both FGC and FUM.  Members of individual Friends Meetings who do not wish to be counted toward the payments made to FUM and FGC by BYM can specifically request not to be included and the payment to those organizations will be reduced by that amount.
• Some of the benefits of organizing a meeting under BYM:
• Being a part of the Quaker faith community process & in connection with other Friends.  You can’t be a Quaker in isolation.
• Financial support available for attendance at Quaker schools and camps.
• Being “part of the family;” “taking the good with the bad.”
• BYM needs Patapsco as much as Patapsco needs BYM.
• The BYM apportionment for monthly meetings is based on:
• Amount of contributions
• # of contributing households
• Investment income
• BYM funds go to:
• Friends organizations
• Administration of BYM Committees
• BYM Camping Program
• BYM office and staff
• R.E. Library
• Youth Programs
• Young Friends Conferences

Submitted by:  Sherri Morgan, Recording Clerk for Ad Hoc Monthly Meeting Committee
3/17/02

How to Form a Nonprofit Religious Corporation in Maryland

MD Code, Corporations & Associations Article 5-301—5-313—Religious Corporations

    The adult members of a church [defined below] may form a religious corporation. Such adult members shall elect at least four individuals to act as trustees [defined below] in the name of and on behalf of the church; and shall prepare a plan of the church.  The plan shall include (1) the purposes for which the religious corporation is formed; (2) the name of the religious corporation and the church; (3) the time and manner for election and succession of trustees; and (4) the exact qualifications of individuals eligible to vote at elections and to be elected to office.  [Article 5-302]  The plan shall be entered in the record book required by Maryland law (see, Article 5-307), and shall be acknowledged by a majority of the trustees.  [Article 5-303]  Unless the plan provides otherwise, the trustees shall be elected at the time and place ordinarily used for public meetings of the church by the individuals who, according to the custom and usage of the church, have a voice in the management and direction of congregational or temporal affairs.  [Article 5-307]

    The trustees shall file articles of incorporation for record with the Department [what dept?]. The articles of incorporation shall contain (1) the plan of the church; (2) the address of the principal place of worship of the church; and (3) the name and address of the resident agent of the church.  The trustees become a corporation under the name stated in the articles of incorporation when the Department accepts the articles for record. [Article 5-304]

    The trustees have the power to (1) have perpetual existence under the name of the religious corporation; (2) purchase, take, or acquire by gift, bequest, or in any other manner and hold any interest in any assets in the State; (3) use, lease, mortgage, sell, or convey the assets in the manner that the trustees consider most conducive to the interest of the religious corporation; (4) generally manage any assets of the religious corporation; and (5) adopt rules and ordinances for conducting their affairs as necessary and convenient to accomplish the purpose of the religious corporation, including (a) appointing the time and place of a meeting of its members; and (b) determining the number of members necessary to constitute a quorum.  [Article 5-306]

    The trustees shall keep an accurate record book.  They shall allow inspection of the record book by members of the religious corporation; and allow the proceedings recorded in the record book to be presented before a public meeting, if required by five or more members of the religious corporation.

    The only terms defined under this article are “church,” “plan,” “record book,” and “trustees.”  “Church” is defined as “any church, religious society, or congregation of any sect, order, or denomination.”  [Article 5-301]  The other terms are as described above.

Maryland case law applying this article has determined:

    Trustees and not the congregation constitute the corporation under the Maryland system of incorporating religious societies.  Babcock Memorial Presbyterian Church v. Presbytery of Baltimore (1984).

Maryland law under this article imposes no particular form of church government of property control upon any church incorporating thereunder, but leaves the matter entirely to the will of the churches involved.  The Maryland law leaves the distribution of control over local church property entirely to the voluntary arrangements entered into by and within each denomination.  Thus, any incorporated local church and any parent or supervisory denominational body can agree among themselves to lodge such degree of control over local church property in such body or bodies as they select.  Smith v. Church of God (1971).