1. In December of 1970, the Directors of the Mother Church initiated a change in Chapter 39, Section 1, of the Public Statutes of Massachusetts.

2. Mrs. Eddy utilized this provision in the law, in 1892, to create the Deed of Trust she used to convey the land for the future edifice of the Mother Church to a board of four trustees who were to be known as directors of her church.

3. Mrs. Eddy's lawyers had searched for a state statute that would allow her to re-organized her church on the basis she envisioned.

4. J. Burough Stokes, of the Committee on Publication of the Church, presented the Petition of the Directors of the Mother Church, to the Representatives and Senators of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for their concurrence, on March 15, 1971.

5. House Petition 2441, accompanied by House Bill, No. 5331, was referred to the Committee on Commerce and Labor, for concurrence, which they gave the following day, March 16, 1971.

6. This petition by the four-member fiduciary Board of Directors of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, was titled "An Act Pertaining To A Director of The Christian Science Church of Boston."

7. This Act was done by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Section 1 of Chapter 68 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting at the end of said section the following sentence: "For the purpose of this chapter members of The Christian Science Board of Directors of The First Church of Christ, Scientists, in Boston, Massachusetts, shall, not withstanding any other provision of law, be deemed to be citizens of the Commonwealth if they are residents thereof."

8. The Establishment Clause of the Bill of Rights that supplements the Constitution for the United States of America states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

9. One has to wonder under what authority the joint Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, got its authority that authorized it to act in this regard.

10. Before this change in the law had been made, Directors had to be American citizens. Mrs. Eddy had made no effort to have this statute revised. And there were many able lawyers among her students had she wished to pursue such a change.

11. This change in the Church Manual was not well received, and it succeeded only by the effort of a non-Christian Scientist who suggested that the statute be broadened to benefit all religions. This change of emphasis was made in the arguments on the floor of the legislature and the bill was passed by both houses of the state, surprisingly, the very next day after it was received.

12. No announcement was made to the members of the Mother Church, and an "editor's note" was quietly added to the bottom of page 130 of the Church Manual to reflect the unconstitutional Board requested change in the law.

13. Incidently, just who is the .editor. of the Church Manual that cannot be changed?