BACKGROUND – Requirements of our Church Manual

The Matters of Conscience complaint documents numerous instances in which Church By-Laws were violated by officers of The Mother Church, including by the Christian Science Board of Directors, across a wide range of Church activities and over an extended period of time. Many of these violations have still not been acknowledged nor corrected by Church officers. The complaint was filed under the requirements of Article I, Section 9, of the Manual of The Mother Church, which reads in part: 

     "It is the duty of the Christian Science Board of Directors to watch and make sure that the officers of this Church perform the functions of their several offices promptly and well. If an officer fails to fulfil all the obligations of his office, the Board of Directors shall immediately call a meeting and notify this officer either to resign his place or to perform his office faithfully; then failing to do either, said officer shall be dismissed from this Church, and his dismissal shall be written on the Church records.

     "It is the duty of any member of this Church, and especially of one who has been or who is the First Reader of a church, to inform the Board of Directors of the failure of the Committee on Publication or of any other officer in this Church to perform his official duties. …  "

The complaint was filed by Christian Science teacher Elaine Natale Davidson, C.S.B., in obedience to the Manual requirement “…to inform the Board of Directors of the failure of the Committee on Publication or of any other officer in this Church to perform his official duties.”  As described below, she carefully followed each of the steps of the Matthew Code (Matthew 18:15-17), as is required by two Church Manual By-Laws (Article XI, Sections 2 and 4).

• In January 2002 Mrs. Davidson filed the complaint Matters of Conscience with the Christian Science Board of Directors in accordance with the first step of the Matthew Code:  “…if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”  (Matt. 18:15) 

• After receiving no response, she and another Mother Church member met with the Board of Directors in March 2002:  “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” (Matt. 18:16)   During this March 2002 meeting, the Board refused to discuss the contents of the complaint and denied the validity of the extensive, clearly documented evidence.  

• Because of this, in April 2002 the complaint was taken “unto the church” — shared with the full membership:  “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.” (Matt. 18:17) 

Since members deeply love The Mother Church and realize that its future depends upon all its activities being reconciled with our Church Manual, support for the complaint has been strong in the Christian Science field. The DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE page of this website has a description of the complaint and of the additional documents that may be requested – these additional documents show the history of events since Matters of Conscience was filed.