§ 47. Free churches in communion with the Protestant Episcopal church.
Whenever the trustees of any free church in communion with the
Protestant Episcopal church heretofore or hereafter organized under the
provisions of article nine of this act shall desire to change the
management of its affairs and the form of government of the corporation
by substituting a vestry in place of such trustees, such change may be
made in the following manner: The trustees of any free church having
first obtained the written consent of the ecclesiastical authority of
the diocese to such change may by an affirmative vote of not less than
two-thirds determine by resolution reciting the consent of such
ecclesiastical authority and duly recorded in the minutes of such church
to change the management of its affairs by substituting a vestry in
place of such trustees to manage the affairs of such corporation and
free church with the same powers, duties and privileges as are now
possessed and exercised by churchwardens and vestrymen in churches of
the Protestant Episcopal church organized under this article, but
subject to the provisions of section one hundred and eighty-three of
this chapter and for the purposes set forth in the certificate of
incorporation of such free church and for no other purposes; such
resolution shall fix the day, either a Sunday or a secular day, upon
which the annual election shall be held, the number to constitute such
vestry which shall be two churchwardens and either three, six, nine,
twelve, fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one or twenty-four vestrymen as may be
determined, and shall also designate the persons to be such
churchwardens, and vestrymen, to act until the annual election, and
copies of such resolution, together with a statement of the vote of the
trustees adopting the same certified under the seal of the corporation
and verified by the president and secretary thereof, shall be filed in
the office of the secretary of state and also in the office of the clerk
of the county in which such church or corporation is located. Upon and
after the filing of such certificate, the churchwardens and vestrymen
named in said resolution and their successors in office, together with
the rector when there shall thereafter be one, shall form the vestry and
shall be the vestry and shall constitute the corporation; and at the
first annual election the churchwardens and vestrymen shall be divided
into classes and their respective terms of office fixed and shall be
elected by the persons qualified to vote for the churchwardens and
vestrymen in churches or congregations of the Protestant Episcopal
church and the provisions of this article shall govern such election and
all future elections and all acts of such vestry, subject to the
provisions of section one hundred and eighty-three of this chapter.