You Get the House, I Get the Church

There's a novel divorce case going on in New York in which the wife is trying to make the husband's church part of the divorce settlement:

MINEOLA, N.Y. — The Biblical Gospel of Matthew famously admonishes Christians not to try to serve both God and wealth. But a pastor's estranged wife says he has blended the two so thoroughly that his church should be counted as an asset in their divorce.

A judge agreed in a decision published this week to hear arguments on the claim, and he ordered a financial appraisal of the church. Lawyers involved in the case said it could represent the first time anyone in New York state has tried to treat a religious institution as a marital asset.

The wife argues that her husband of 31 years used his Brooklyn church as a "personal piggy bank," setting his own income, spending the congregation's tithes as he pleased and running a catering business from the building, according to an account of the claims in state Supreme Court Judge Arthur M. Diamond's decision. The couple's names were redacted from the decision.

The wife said $50,000 of the couple's money went into starting the church, and she should share in value.

"That church is no different than any other business he might have opened," said the wife's lawyer, Robert Pollack.

The pastor maintains he is simply a church employee, and the institution's funds should not be considered his, according to Diamond's decision.

"My client can't own the church," said the minister's lawyer, Eleanor Gery.

I've worked with a number of churches that were "owned" by the pastor, who felt free to spend the church's funds as he wished. Stories from one very large church (that's no longer in business) included the pastor walking into the offering counting room and taking all the $50's and $100's for himself. For many pastors the church is not just their ministry but is also their business.