The plot thickens

So a lot of folks saw the defrocking of Don Armstrong as the likely final chapter in the whole sad tale down at Grace & St Stephens in Colorado Springs.  But there were two remaining cases — the criminal fraud investigation against Armstrong (though his supporters still think that’s DOA after their own independent audit) and the property claim over the church itself, which Armstrong & Co. are still occupying, while the Episcopal portion of the congregation worship elsewhere.

And now things are getting a bit more interesting:

The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado has added a request for monetary damages in its legal dispute with a breakaway parish over church assets.

Last spring, leaders of Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs voted to leave the Episcopal church and asked a judge to declare that the diocese doesn’t own the historic church and its property.

The diocese filed a counterclaim, contending it still owns the church’s property.  Yesterday the diocese asked an El Paso County District Court judge for permission to include leaders of the breakaway parish as defendants in its counterclaim, as well as to seek unspecified monetary damages.

Armstrong supporters have long decried the costliness of the diocesan legal efforts against their Fearless Leader (part and parcel of what they claim is vindictive retribution against St. Don). It looks like the diocese has figured out how to defray those costs — quite appropriately, to my mind.

Meanwhile, things continue to ramp up toward bigger confrontations elsewhere in the Episcopal Church.  While to date, the secessions have been on an individual and parish level, some of the more conservative bishops have been making noises about leaving, claiming they can take their dioceses along with them — a fairly dubious claim.  And part of the big news this week was that Bp Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone has kindly offered to let those dioceses that want to secede hop into his province (cutting the various Global South provinces from Africa out of the picture, and potentially hugely expanding his small province).

Two of those potentially defecting bishops, Bishop Duncan in Pittsburgh and Bishop Iker of Ft Worth, have been going through the formal paperwork that would let them put a legal face on breaking off from the national church.  Bp Duncan, for example, has gone through the first steps of changing the constitution of his diocese to allow for a quick departure when he chooses (without formally declaring a intent on doing so).

Rather than sitting back and taking it, the Church is finally beginning to draw the line. Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori has contacted both Bp Duncan and now Bp Iker, warning them that further steps in that direction would have direct consequences on them — “appropriate canonical steps are promptly taken to consider whether you have abandoned the Communion of this Church — by actions and substantive statements, however, they may be phrased — and whether you have committed canonical offences that warrant disciplinary action.”

Expect more ecclesiastical excitement in the days and weeks to come.

And, no, rumors to the contrary, my “business trip” to Fort Worth this coming week has nothing to do all this.  Really.  Well, not that I can say anything about …

It sometimes seems that most of what I talk about here regarding stuff in the Episcopal Church is all about scandal and schism — and, yes, like the mass media, that’s what seems to stir the blood and make for big headlines.  But that’s just a sidelight, in many ways.  Really. 

At our parish, things are humming along quite nicely.  The parish is growing with new families, our budget is doing pretty well, and folks seem happy.  We’re looking toward some growth activities for next year.   We’re heading toward Advent and Christmas, and all the plans around that seem to be progressing nicely.

Last night we went to one of the “Hungry Flock” monthly dinners at one parishioner’s house.  Lots of positive conversation and pleasant times.  Today we’re all bringing in frozen turkeys and other Thanksgiving fixings for local food banks.

It’s not all about bishops and provinces and secession.  In fact, that’s a very small part of it.  Sometimes, it’s useful to remember that.