N.Y. Religious Corporations Law § 181

§ 181. Rights, powers and limitations. Upon the filing of such\ncertificate the persons named therein as trustees, and their successors,\nbeing citizens of the United States and residents of this state, shall\nbe a body politic and corporate, with all the rights, powers and duties,\nand subject to all the restrictions and obligations and other\nprovisions, so far as the same may be applicable and consistent with\nthis article, specified and contained in the act entitled "An act for\nthe incorporation of benevolent, charitable, scientific and missionary\nsocieties," passed April twelfth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, and\nthe act amending the same, passed April seventh, eighteen hundred and\nforty-nine, except that the limitation in the first of the said acts of\nthe value of real estate that may be held by any society in the city or\ncounty of New York, incorporated under this article, shall not be\napplicable to any church edifice erected or owned by such society, or\nthe lot of ground on which the same may be built; and except that the\nprovision in the first of the said acts, in relation to the personal\nliability of the trustees, shall be applicable only to the trustees who\nshall have assented to the creation of any debt.\n