Borough of Homestead v. St. Mary Magdalen Church

In Borough of Homestead v. St. Mary Magdalen Church, 798 A.2d 823 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2002), the Court allowed a tax exemption for a piece of real estate, a former parochial school, that was owned by the Diocese of Pittsburgh and known as the Bishop Boyle Center. The Center was operated by the Diocese at a financial loss to house charities whose missions were to assist persons displaced by the closure of the steel mills in Homestead. In addition, one for-profit organization occupied 16 percent of the center, the rent from which helped defray the Diocese's expenses to operate the Bishop Boyle Center. The issue was not whether the Diocese was a purely public charity but whether the Diocese actually occupied the center. In St. Mary, the Court found that the Diocese occupied the Bishop Boyle Center because it maintained the interior and exterior of the premises; paid all utilities; and supervised the center. In holding that the Diocese had satisfied the occupancy requirements of Section 204(c), this Court stated: The facts in Archdiocese of Philadelphia, involving minimal, passive possession, are significantly different from the situation at the ... center, where the church maintains active, daily possession with some control over all activities on the property. 798 A.2d at 829.