(mass) Court rules nature preserve at Catholic shrine is not religious and eligible for taxation

[Heddi]

http://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/03/22/court-rules-nature-preserve-catholic-shrine-not-religious-and-eligible

A court has ruled that portions of a popular Catholic retreat center in Massachusetts, including a home for battered women and a large wildlife sanctuary, do not fulfill a religious role and are thus eligible to be taxed.

In a ruling released on Mar. 22, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with local assessors who argued that parts of the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette campus did not fit within the commonwealth’s legal definition of space used for “religious worship or instruction.”

The ruling appears to confirm fears among some of Massachusetts faith leaders that courts are reining in the definition of religious practice, at least when it comes to taxes.

At issue were four sections of the shrine’s 199-acre campus in the southeastern Massachusetts city of Attleboro. On its property sits a chapel, a retreat house and a popular exhibit of Christmas lights that draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

...
But in 2013 town officials said that four parts of the campus, including a welcome center, maintenance shed, as well as the wildlife refuge and shelter, should be taxed because they were used for non-religious purposes. They assessed the full value of the campus at about $13 million, of which about $5 million was taxable.

When presented with a tax bill for $92,000, the religious order that runs the shrine paid the taxes, but it turned to the courts to argue their case, fearing that the annual burden would enfeeble its charitable efforts.

Wednesday’s ruling was split, finding that two of the four areas should be taxed.


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“If you start looking at the activities in the church basement and saying, ‘Well, you host coffee hour there and that's not really religious worship, so we're going to tax you for that portion of the building,’ that could be devastating for churches throughout the commonwealth,” Ms. Tillotson told Boston radio station WBUR.

In a March 23 statement, Cyriac Mattathilanickal, M.S., a priest who runs the retreat center at the shrine, and Ms. Tilloston said that they also welcomed the court’s decision that the welcome center, a cafeteria and maintenance shed are components of the shrine’s religious mission and are thus exempt from property taxes.
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But the court sided with the town in finding that the wildlife refuge and shelter were used for charitable purposes not associated with religion and are thus eligible for taxation—at least under the religious exemption. The justices wrote that those properties could be eligible for tax relief under other statutes concerning charities, but that the shrine had not filed for the correct exemptions.

Representatives of the shrine had argued that the ability to define how it is used for worship was being threatened by the town and the entire campus should be considered an extension of the shrine’s religious mission, rejecting the town’s attempts to parcel up the land into religious and nonreligious parcels.

[okasha]

1. The home for battered women and the nature preserve

are 501(c)3 eligible as a charity and an educational facility, respectively. The order just needs to submit the paperwork.

[rug]

2. You're killing her buzz.

[hrmjustin]

3. But but but...

... it is church owned dammit!

[Lordquinton]

4. So they need to file the paperwork

And it will fall under the same code as every other non-profit. That is great news.

It's good that we can remove the religious exemption and still keep the good works protected, just under some proper oversight.

[rug]

5. You don't understand the IRC.

It remains a religious exemption. Whether you like it or not.