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Judge Rules Against St. Mary's on Chapel Demolition

Reporter: Emily Sinovic

A ruling in Vanderburgh Superior Court Tuesday puts a stop to the demolition of the chapel on the grounds of St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville. St. Mary's plans to appeal the decision.

The ruling, from Judge Scott Bowers, states the donation of the chapel some fifty years ago is a charitable trust. And in the court's eye, that means St Mary's can't make any changes, investments or expenditures, without consulting the donor's family or heirs. Family attorney Charles Berger says, "What the judge did find was that the action of creating a permanent memorial was a bequest that creates a charitable trust. And the church is a charitable trust in the eyes of the law. The hospital violated the law in tearing down, beginning the destruction of the chapel without court permission."

So, the judge rules St Mary's is permanently enjoined from destroying the chapel, and must now refurbish and restore it to its original condition, and at St Mary's cost. St Mary's has already dismantled the interior of the chapel and removed the stained glass windows.

St. Mary's wanted to tear down the chapel to make way for a new heart institute. Here is the text of an e-mail sent to St. Mary's employees Tuesday afternoon and obtained by Newswatch:

Dear Employees:

We wanted to let you know that today, Superior Court Judge Scott Bowers, issued an initial ruling regarding the removal of the former chapel. The judge ruled that the space cannot be removed at this time. Our attorneys are preparing to immediately appeal this ruling to the Indiana Court of Appeals as we are in disagreement with these findings.

We are reviewing our options relative to the initial court's ruling. We will keep you informed of our progress.

Thank you.

Kathleen Korbelak
President
St. Mary's Medical Center

This battle has gone on all summer. In May, some descendants of the chapel's founders passed around a petition to halt the project. A month later, protests outside St. Mary's campus began. In July, Vincent McCarthy, the grandson of a man who helped oversee the construction of the chapel, went to court to seek a permanent injunction to keep the hospital from tearing it down.

After a delay, testimony began in the civil case earlier this month, with a ruling from Judge Bowers on Tuesday. Ellen CorCoran Hegeman is a daughter of one of the trustees. "To me, it shows that when something is right to do, when people stand up, even it's just a few people, when you stand up for what is the right thing to do, and you're persistent, it can pay off."