Opinion
November 25, 1930.
January 5, 1931.
Constitutional law — Payment of public moneys to sectarian institutions — Constitution, section 18, article III.
1. Public moneys cannot be appropriated to a foundling asylum and maternity hospital, where it appears that all of the officers, a majority of the board of trustees, and eighteen employees of the institution were Roman Catholics, that the board of trustees were self-perpetuating, that the employees were engaged and dismissed by the mother superior of a Roman Catholic order, that the institution was listed in the "Official Catholic Directory" as a Catholic Institution, and that a chapel was maintained in the building of the institution, in which Catholic services were held daily. [146]
2. In such case it is immaterial that the institution had been established as a nonsectarian asylum and hospital, that the trustees sought to carry out a nonsectarian policy, and that they did not discriminate against any particular faith or religion in the conduct of the affairs of the institution. [146]
Equity — Findings of fact — Appeals.
3. A court of appeal will not set aside a chancellor's finding of fact when supported by testimony. [147]
Before FRAZER, C. J., WALLING, SIMPSON, KEPHART, SADLER, SCHAFFER and MAXEY, JJ.
Appeal, No. 1, May T., 1930, by defendants, from decree of C. P. Dauphin Co., Equity Docket No. 809, Equity Docket No. 11, Commonwealth Docket, 1926, for plaintiff on bill in equity, in case of Willis Collins v. Edward Martin, auditor general, Samuel S. Lewis, state treasurer, and Roselia Foundling Asylum Maternity Hospital of Pittsburgh. Affirmed.
Bill for injunction to restrain payment of public moneys. Before WICKERSHAM, J.
The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.
Injunction awarded and final decree restraining payment entered. Defendant appealed.
Error assigned, inter alia, was decree, quoting it.
Charles F. C. Arensberg, of Patterson, Crawford, Arensberg Dunn, with him J. Howard Devlin and Elmer E. Erb, for appellant.
Graham C. Woodward, with him Luther S. Kauffman, for appellee.
By Act of May 12, 1925, the legislature appropriated to the Roselia Foundling Asylum Maternity Hospital of the City of Pittsburgh the sum of $35,000 for maintenance. Payment of the appropriation is objected to by plaintiff, in his bill as a taxpayer, on the ground that the statute contravenes section 18 of article III of the Constitution, providing that no appropriation shall be made for charitable, educational or benevolent purposes to any denominational or sectarian institution. The court below entered a decree in favor of plaintiff, and the hospital has appealed.
The lower court found as matters of fact that, although this institution had been established as a nonsectarian asylum and hospital, and the board of trustees "seek to carry out a nonsectarian policy," not discriminating "against any one particular faith or religion, either in the employment of nurses or other employees necessary to conduct the affairs of the institution, or in the acceptance of those who need their services," nevertheless, the testimony disclosed that the president, vice-president, secretary and a majority of the members of the board of trustees of the institution, the superintendent, and eighteen of the employees, are Roman Catholics; that the board of trustees is self-perpetuating, themselves filling vacancies in their number which may occur; that employees of the institution are engaged and dismissed by the superintendent, a mother superior of the order "Mother Seton Sisters of Charity," of which order eighteen of the employees also are members, wearing the garb of the order when not on actual hospital duty; that the institution is listed in the "Official Catholic Directory" as a Catholic Institution; and that a room is provided in the building for use as a chapel, in which Catholic services are held daily.
The court below might well have further found, as the record clearly indicates, that the institution is efficiently managed and is a charity deserving of state assistance if it were not within the prohibition of the Constitution.
The court below concluded, and so found, that "The Roselia Foundling Asylum Maternity Hospital of the City of Pittsburgh . . . . . . was affiliated with a sectarian denomination and . . . . . . under its governing influence," and enjoined perpetually defendant state officers from paying to and the Roselia Foundling Asylum Maternity Hospital from receiving or accepting the appropriation, or any part thereof, made to it under the Act of May 12, 1925, which was declared in violation of article III, section 18 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Following the well settled rule to the effect that nothing but clear error will warrant setting aside facts found by a chancellor when supported by testimony, and there being supporting evidence in this proceeding of the chancellor's findings as indicated above, the decree of the lower court must be affirmed.
The decree is affirmed, costs to be paid by defendant.