MacKey v. Bowen

The executors under the will of Joseph P. Burke, who died June 5, 1952, bring a petition for instructions as to their duties with respect to a bequest: “To the Church of the Infant Jesus of Brookline, all the rest and residue of my property, real, personal and mixed, for the purpose of erecting an altar to my memory and that of my wife, my father and mother, brothers and sisters.” They allege that the residue is about $40,000, and that title to the church property is in the respondent Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a corporation sole. Other respondents are the “pastor for the time…