Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/211

 CALIFORNIA

175

CALIFORNIA

municants " ; the total for this head therefore under- estimates the Catholic population.

Organiza-

Value of

NllTlllt.'l nf

Denomination

Churches

Church

property

canta

Adventist

51

32

$170,850

2,822

Baptist

165

123

763.S60

11,383

Catholic

250

244

2,667,950

157,346

Congregational

182

149

1,014,975

11,907

Jewish

15

12

396,000

6.179

Lutheran

39

21

364,800

1.267

Methodist

559

43S

2,575.631

36,874

1'resbvterian Prot. Episcopal

263

211

1,895,675

18,934

103

95

1.019.695

9,221

Matters Directly Affecting Religion. — The constitu- tional provision safeguarding religious freedom is ample and specific. It reads as follows: "The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall be forever guaranteed in this State; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness or juror on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licen- tiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the Eeace or safety of this State." The Constitution pro- ibits the appropriation of' money from the State treasury for the use or benefit of any corporation, association, asylum, hospital, or any other institution not under the exclusive management and control of the State as a State institution. But there is, never- theless, a proviso authorizing the granting of State aid to institutions conducted for the support and maintenance of "minor orphans, or half orphans, or abandoned children, or aged persons in indigent cir- cumstances". The Constitution also expressly pro- hibits the appropriation of money in support of any sectarian creed, church, or school. The policy of the State is to afford the fullest measure of religious liberty to all, to discriminate in favour of, or against, no one on account of religious belief, and not to per- mit the power or resources of the State to be used for the propagation of any form of religion or for the benefit of any religious institution. Every Sunday is by express legislative enactment a legal holiday i( nil Code, §7); on that day all courts are closed, and busi- ness is universally suspended. Any act required by law or contract to be done or performed on a particu- lar day which happens to fall on a Sunday, may be done or performed on the next day with full legal effect. But there is no law compelling the religious observance of Sunday, and contracts, deeds, wills, notes, etc. executed on Sunday are just as valid as if executed on any other day. But, while there is no Sunday Law, properly so-called, there is an act of the legislature passed 27 February. 1893, securing to all employees one day's rest in seven, and making it a misdemeanour to violate the provisions of the act.

The Code of Civil Procedure provides that "every court, every judge or clerk of any court . every justice and every notary public, and every officer or person authorized to take testimony in any action or pro- ceeding, or to decide upon evidence, has power to ad- minister oaths or affirmations". Any person who desires it may, at his option, instead of taking an oath, make his affirmation. The Bible i- not used in administering oaths; in judicial proceedings the witness raises his right hand and the clerk or judge swears him "to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God". To make a wilfully false statement after having taken an oath or affirmation, before an officer authorized to admin- ister it, to testify to the truth, is perjury, a felony punishable by imprisonment in the State's prison for from one to fourteen years. The Penal Code makes

it a misdemeanour, punishable by a fine of $200 or by imprisonment for ninety days, to utter profane lan- guage in the presence or hearing of women or children {Penal Code, §415). The Supreme Court of the State, in the case of Delaney ex parte, California Reports, Vol. XLIII, page 478, has held it to be within the power of a municipal corporation empowered by its charter to prohibit practices which are against good morals, to prohibit and punish the utteranceof profane language. The entire matter of profane language is generally left to the control of the local authorities, and most of the counties and cities have ordinances prohibiting and punishing it. It is customary to open the sessions of the legislature with prayer, though there is no provi- sion of law either requiring or prohibiting the prac- tice. There is no recognition of any religious holi- days, by name, except Sunday. New Year's Day and Christmas are both holidays, but they are described in the Civil Code merely as "the first day of January . . . ami the twenty-fifth day of December". It must be said that the same rule is observed in the Code in referring to the other legal holidays. Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, etc. are simply the twenty-second day of February, the thir- tieth day of May, the fourth day of July, etc. The seal of confession has the full sanction and protection of the law. It occupies the same position in the eyes of the law as communications made to attorneys and physicians in their professional capacities. It is the policy of (he law to encourage these confidential or privileged communications, as they are called, and to keep them inviolate. Section 1881 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that a priest cannot be ex- amined as to any confession made to him, as such, by a penitent.

Matters Affecting lit ligious Work. — The laws gov- erning the incorporation of churches and religious societies and providing for the protection and man- agement of church property are both beneficent and effective. The Civil Code (section 002) provides that any bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder, may become a sole corporation by complying with certain simple legal formalities. Thereafter, the usual attributes of corporations aggregate attach, mutatis mutandis, to the corporation sole. Under this statute all Catholic Church property in the Archdiocese of San Francisco is held in the name of "The Roman Catholic Arch- bishop of San Francisco", a corporation sole. Upon the death of the incumbent, his successor, properly appointed and qualified, takes the place of his prede- cessor, and no probate or other proceedings are re- quired to vest the title to the church property which, in contemplation of law, remains always in the cor- poration sole, regardless of who may be, for the time being, the incumbent. In addition to the law's gov- erning corporations sole, there are very liberal statutes authorizing the incorporation of single churches, as well as of religious, charitable, and educational associa- tions, and t he holding of property by such corpora- tions; also authorizing the consolidation of two or more churches or parishes into one corporation. Un- der the law of California, therefore, the property interests of the Church are jealously safeguarded, and she is free to hold her church property in either of the methods above pointed out. Prior to the year 1900, California stood alone among the States of the Union in taxing church property in t he same manner and at the -:tme rate as business or residence property. On 6 November, 1900, the people of the State adopted an amendment to the Constitution, providing that "all buildings, and so much of the real property on which they are situated as may be required for the con- venient use and occupation of said buildings, when the same are used solely and exclusively for religious worship, shall be free from taxation ". The residences of the clergy, the hospitals, orphanages, refuges, asy- lums, and all other institutions which are devoted to