edndori asked this question on 4/3/2000:

From the legal point of view, who actually owns a church?

Being a non-profit organization, can it have stockholders.

Does the corporation own everything, but cannot itself be owned?

How does this work?

rainbowlady gave this response on 4/4/2000:

As far as I know, churches and religions are NOT corporations and have no stockholders.

The Catholic church, for example, works up a "chain". The local parish (not the people IN the parish) owns the church and the land upon which the church stands. If there are not enough parishoners to support the church, the dioceses may buy the church and run it from that level.

Other faiths also own their own buildings at the local level, although some rent when their congregation isn't big enough to support the building of a church.

Hope this helps.

Love and Light, Rainbowlady

edndori asked this follow-up question on 4/4/2000:

That does shed some light, but my question was poorly phrased. What I was trying to ask was: If the Church exists as a government recognized legal entity, able to own property and have special privelages such as tax free status, who owns that legal entity?

For example, who owns the Roman Catholic Church? (in the government/legal sense)

rainbowlady gave this response on 4/4/2000:

No one "owns" the RC church or any other church. It is a business, just as all other business, except it's one that's tax-free as long as it follows the guidelines. It's like a non-profit organization: it's tax free and no one really "owns" it. There are no shareholders because it doesn't make a profit.

Love and Light, Rainbowlady

The average rating for this answer is 5.

edndori rated this answer a 5.

Thank you. That helps a lot.