January 8, 2007

RAVENNA, Ohio (RNS) The large "X" on the trunk of a stately oak in St. Mary's Cemetery has faded, but the 200-year-old tree remains in danger more than two years after it was marked for removal.

Its staunchest supporters — relatives of those buried under its far-reaching boughs — are in a battle between church and state.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Jan. 12 that, for now, the Rev. John-Michael Lavelle of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church could not order the oak and other trees felled. The court wants the trees to remain until it decides whether to accept an appeal filed by John Plough and others who argue that the operation of the Catholic cemetery does not fall under canon law.

Plough turned to the Supreme Court after a state appeals court said neither it nor a lower court had jurisdiction; it said a church tribunal ruling that the trees could be cut should stand.

"As a general rule, civil courts lack jurisdiction to adjudicate purely ecclesiastical or spiritual disputes of a church," the appellate court said.

Plough, however, contends that "this is not an internal church matter."

Mary Beth Houser, the lawyer for the church, declined to comment.

The cemetery deed is titled to the bishop of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese, who is responsible for all diocesan property.

Plough said he and others are the beneficiaries of the charitable trust to which the cemetery belongs because they are members of the congregation and their families own cemetery plots.

But the church said the congregation, not individuals, is the beneficiary of the trust, and the pastor, Lavelle, governs the congregation.

In July 2004, Lavelle wrote in the church bulletin that several large trees would be removed because falling limbs and expanding roots were damaging headstones, according to court documents. The church wanted to widen a road and build a new chapel and maintenance building. It would plant new trees.

Plough, who has been joined in his legal battle by his brother and several people with relatives in the cemetery, said the trees are healthy, are not causing a problem and were there before the cemetery was established in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

"Trees bring solace and peace and tranquility and attract living things, such as squirrels and birds," Plough said.

— Karen Farkas