This article contains parts of the book: Religious Law: Practical and Theoretical Issues, by Thiago Rafael Vieira and Jean Marques Regina, published with authorization.
Of course, the old accusation: “every pastor is a thief” is nothing more than a demonstration of disgust and pettiness against the Brazilian church. We understand that every pastor, called by God to pastoral function, sums up his life to obey biblical teachings. to serve their community of faith, and to nourish the Church through the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Is not a devoted pastor a thief? and for those who use the pastoral figure as a means of achieving an illicit end, the status of the Church has an express willingness to address the subject and stop the act which, in addition to sin, is an affront to the official provisions of each religious organization.
- Each organization.
- Including religious organization.
- Must have one or more leaders.
- Which are legally described in the statutes as directors or any other synonym.
- This position may be presided over by a president or by any other name that the statute indicates.
- The legal obligation for the existence of a board of directors is due to the need for religious organization to refer to the state and organized political society.
- Doing so through this representation.
- Culminating in ecclesiastical law.
In some cases the council is elected and has a temporary mandate, other times the council is perpetual, being elected only when the religious organization was founded, in addition, the board can be appointed, in short, the fact is that there are no legal or legal rules for the formation of an ecclesial council. The less suspicious may cite the provisions of the Civil Code, but it should be remembered that the internal organization and structure of religious organizations are free, as already mentioned (art. 44, CWB). 1), at least on Brazilian soil.
The belief system is the primary source of any religious organization, thus establishing the basic premise of the leadership and administration of the Church The basic example is the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church itself, whose leader, His Holiness the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, has perpetual mandate and is infallible when he is president, could cite many other examples , but to avoid tautologies, we reiterate that it is faith and faith in confession that establishes these premises and not the immanent legal order.
The executive office, once elected or appointed in the conditions set out above, has duties and obligations under the terms of the statutes linking it The Brazilian Civil Code states that it is the legal entity of the religious organization that is responsible for the actions. The law reads: “Art. 47. Are companies subject to the actions of directors, exercised within the limits of their powers defined in the constitution?[1].
However, if the Council disobeys its statutory obligations, it does not conform to the canonical body of the religious organization it directs and, inevitably, to its main source, that is, its system of beliefs and faith, it must be held responsible for this non-fulfilment, both internal and external, if such extrapolation of powers causes harm.
With the undisputed demonstration of the religious organization, the offending leader must personally respond, with his personal property, for the harm it causes to third parties. It should be recalled that if the leader, within the framework of his statutory and canonical prerogatives, performs an act that injured the third party, and the requirements of subjective civil liability are present, that is, the unlawful act, the damage caused and the causality, which must be fulfilled is the religious organization, in the exact mold of article 47 of the Brazilian Civil Code.
Where the statutory board of directors acts for abuse of legal personality, causing a diversion of purpose or property confusion, civil liability may extend to the private property of the Board of Directors, if the organization’s assets do not. It will not be enough to execute the contract or compensate for any losses it causes.
Art. 50. – In cases of abuse of legal personality, characterized by misappropriation of the object or confusion in the property, the judge may decide, at the request of the party, or the Public Prosecutor’s Office when it is necessary to intervene in the process. , that the effects of certain and certain obligation relationships extend to the private property of the directors or associates of the corporation.
The conceptualization of the object deviation provided for in the previous article occurs when the activities carried out by the religious organization deviate from the objective proposed in its statutes. The Church, statutory administrators will be responsible for this or for the harm they cause to others, with private capital.
Property confusion occurs when one or more members, with an obvious intention to evade responsibility for church commitments or obligations, transfer Church property to another institution or itself, draining the organization’s assets so that they cannot cope with their debts or losses caused. itself as the other legal assumption that board assets can account for unpaid debt.
Understandable? Suffice it, you know how to meet your conversational friend, the legitimate religious organization keeps in its scope the order and measures to be taken in any act that departs from the essential purpose of the Church, in its statutes, and corroborated with the legal provisions. of the civil instruments of the Federal Republic of Brazil.
[1] BRAZIL. Vademecum Saraiva, op. cit. , P. 166.