(No. 5) Owing to the abuses of lay trustees all future churches should be consigned to the bishop when possible.

"You can respect someone immensely, but argue with them right down to the nitty gritty," said Mr. Corley, the lay trustee.

He eventually excommunicated Hogan in 1821 and then, like many American bishops in the 1820s, wrested control of the parish from the lay trustees.

The parish was later incorporated under the old New York law with a board of lay trustees elected by the pew-holders.

In the United States the employment of lay trustees was customary in some parts of the country from a very early period.

Immediately upon his arrival, he also became engaged in the long-running dispute between episcopal authority and the lay trustees of St. Mary's Church.

His entire tenure was marked by problems with the lay trustees of St. Mary's, which he had chosen for his cathedral.

By 1976 the school faculty consisted of few Xaverian Brothers, and day-to-day running was taken over by lay trustees.

The lay trustees were prominent Catholic Lords, such as the Earl of Fingall Arthur James Plunkett and the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

The parishes of the diocese were likewise incorporated with the bishop, the pastor and two lay trustees serving as a corporate board at each parish.