Category: Episcopal Church

Don Armstrong, former priest in the Episcopal Church, led his conservative congregation of Grace & St Stephens in Colorado Spring out of the Epicopal fold a jump ahead of the Diocese, which was investigating him for financial malfeasance. The ecclesiastical trial ensued regardless, finding Armstrong guilty of the various charges and basically defrocking him, though he declined to appear before them and basically laughed it off as further (and futile) persecution for Armstrong’s outspokenly conservative theology (and virulent disdain for the Episcopal Church).

Well, that’s the background. Now for the new developments.

Police investigated Grace & St Stephens some months back, following up on the information provided by the Colorado Diocese. Though an accountant hand-picked by the church had exonerated Armstrong, the police decided it was best to investigate on their own. Then, in November, the police raided the church’s offices.

And now we know why.

Grace raid affidavit details claims Armstrong misused church funds | Gazette.com 

The Rev. Donald Armstrong funneled money earmarked for “single, unmarried seminarians” from a Grace Church trust fund to pay for his two children’s college tuition, according to Colorado Springs police investigators.

That accusation was contained in a affidavit supporting a search warrant used by police in a November raid on Grace Church and St. Stephen’s and its offices in a next door Victorian home known as the McWilliams House at 601 N. Tejon St.

The affidavit, returned by detective Michael Flynn to the court Tuesday, outlines the 18-month police investigation from May 2007 – when they were notified by the Episcopal Church, Diocese of Colorado that it suspected financial wrongdoing by Armstrong – and Nov. 25, when a judge signed the warrant authorizing the search.

[…] Flynn looked at checks issued “on a monthly basis from July 1999 to March 2006 (when the Armstrong children were attending college) amounting to approximately $226,000.” Armstrong would endorse the checks and write them to “College Fund,” the affidavit states.

“The Bowton Trust was a restricted trust fund providing scholarships for single, unmarried seminarians from Colorado, and was administered by Grace Church,” according to the affidavit. “Father Armstrong’s children were not seminarians. The police investigation determined Donald Armstrong was in control of parish finances and the Bowton Trust with no effective oversight and/or internal controls, and misused trust income (averaging about$9,000 a year) from about 1992 until 2001 when the trustee stopped further disbursements (because Armstrong could not prove he was in compliance with the trust fund).”

[…] In October 2007, Armstrong completed a notarized affidavit stating Bowton trustees “voted to use the Bowton Trust to help fund the ministry of the Anglican Institute.” Armstrong was unable to provide a letter supporting that, Flynn wrote.

Armstrong also told police the scholarships for his children, Zachary and Melissa, “were authorized by former church wardens Stuart Loosley and John Simons,” Flynn wrote.

Again, Flynn could find no documentation signed by Loosley or Simons “recording this decision and the terms of the agreement that cost parishioners approximately $300,000.”

“Loosley is deceased, but John Simons told your affiant he never approved scholarships for Armstrong’s children,” according to the affidavit.

Now, none of this is proof, but it was the sufficient cause for the judge to approve a search warrant. The police continue to investigate. 

If they find probable cause that a crime has been committed, they will turn the case over to a special prosecutor from the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s office in Pueblo. Fourth Judicial District Attorney John Newsome, who will leave office next week, was a Grace member and recused himself from any involvement in the case.

Note that this case is unrelated to the property dispute between the schismatics followers of Armstrong, who are occupying the parish property, and the Diocese of Colorado and the Episcopalian faithful who are worshiping at another location. The trial over that property dispute begins on 10 February.

I do try to be charitable, and not take any joy in the misfortunes of others. Really. But the spirit is often weak, and when the proud and the spiteful get at least a measure of come-uppance, it’s hard not to feel a frisson of satisfaction.

So, then, this image of the Rev. Don Armstrong, evicted (temporarily, at least) from “his” church, the absconded locks-changed Grace & St Stephens in Colorado Springs. Armstrong and a picked majority of his parish voted to leave the Episcopal Church for more friendly — or at least more conservative — Anglican climes. But they decided that, regardless of canon law and whatever the historical expectations of generations of parishioners, they would take the china and silverware with them. Or, more specifically, the property of the Church, i.e., the church itself, banishing a sizeable number of Episcopal loyalists to worship elsewhere.

In the ensuing brouhaha, and investigation into the parish, the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado felt that Armstrong had also been playing fast and loose with parish funds, and turned the info over to the city DA. The mills of the gods grind slowly, but the finally seem to be catching up, as investigators cordoned off the church and went in to search and seize records. 

Colorado Springs police detectives raided Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Wednesday morning to seize paper financial records and computers as part of a theft investigation launched more than a year ago.

More than 20 officers cordoned off the block-long church complex at 601 N. Tejon St., evicting its controversial pastor, the Rev. Donald Armstrong, who wandered the sidewalk in clerical garb, a copy of the warrant in his right hand.

The raid focused on records tied to allegations from the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado that Armstrong embezzled $400,000 from Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, the congregation he headed before he and his followers broke away in early 2007 to affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North American.

Colorado Springs Police Lt. David Whitlock said officers were searching for evidence of theft and fraud. Police also searched Armstrong’s Colorado Springs home Wednesday.

As Mark Harris notes, the fraud/tax investigation has nothing directly to do with the civil suit over who actually owns the church property (due to go to court in February) — save that both disputes stem from Rev. Armstrong, former Episcopal priest. Though, if you read the comments of the Gazette story above, the Armstrong loyalists are quite certain that the Colorado Springs DA and police are acting at the the covert behest of the Wicked Episcopal Bishop O’Neill and his Gay-Loving Episcopal Cohorts.

See also:
Police raid embattled Colorado Springs church : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News
KRDO.com Colorado Springs, Pueblo – Police Serve Warrant At Colorado Springs Church 

More as I run across it.

(via Ginny)

Pope Benedict is considering tweaking the Catholic Mass to shift the “Peace” — the point in the service where folks greet each other with a handshake or hug, wishing each other “Peace [of the Lord] be with you.”

Arinze told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in an interview published Friday that the pope has asked bishops to express their opinions and will then decide.

Under the change, the sign of peace, which now takes place moments before the reception of communion, would come earlier. Arinze said the change might help create a more solemn atmosphere as the faithful are preparing to receive communion.

Because, of course, heavens forbid that a communal greeting might disturb the mood before going to the communal table.

That said, honestly, I don’t recall where the Peace comes in the Catholic Mass (it’s been a few years). In the Episcopal Mass, we do it at the end of the first have of the service, the Liturgy of the Word, prior to the [announcements and halftime show and] Liturgy of the Eucharist. 

So I guess the Pope thinks maybe the Catholic Mass should be more like what we Episcopalians do. 🙂 What next? Female priests?

(via Ginny)

The tax man cometh … 

According to the Colorado Springs Independent, the slow-moving saga of Don Armstrong and the split Episcopal congregation down there continues to evolve. In this case, it’s the IRS that’s throwing a (small) bone to the exiles, with commentary from Armstrong to lend it some fine fodder to chew on.

A letter from a case advocate within the Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS informs Grace members faithful to the U.S. church and the Bishop and Diocese of Colorado that they can continue using the same taxpayer identification number used by the church since at least 1965.

“Another entity has used your taxpayer identification number,” the Sept. 10 letter states. “The IRS considers this a form of corporate identity theft.”

David Watts, junior warden and finance committee chair for the exiled congregation, explains church leaders received an IRS bill in August for $11,833 in unpaid taxes and penalties. “We were current [on taxes] and continue to be current,” Watts says.

The IRS investigation cleared the tax bill, Watts says. It also offered a sliver of hope that the congregation, now gathering at First Christian Church, could eventually return to 601 N. Tejon St. “This is the first determination by any governmental body that we are in the right,” Watts says.

Well, it certainly raises the interesting question of what happens when a non-profit splits and both sides claim to be the legitimate heir of IRS tax ID. In this case, the IRS seems to be favoring the folks who are still calling themselves Episcopalians. It also sounds like Armstrong & Co. aren’t keeping up on their taxes.

Armstrong is less impressed with the letter. Reached by phone Monday, he tells the Independent that it is “much ado about absolutely nothing” and insists, “We don’t have any tax-paying problem.”

Except, like, what number you’re claiming to use. Oh, and that back bill for $12K. Armstrong then turned to the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” defense.

In a follow-up e-mail to the Indy Tuesday morning, Armstrong accuses the rival group of conspiring to have the identification number “falsely” assigned to it, thus committing “corporate identity theft” itself.

Tell it to the IRS, reverend. 

Armstrong also wanted to show off his winning and Christ-like ways:

He dismisses the exiled Grace members as a group of “CC [Colorado College] people” before asserting he is not speaking for attribution. “You may not quote me on anything,” he says. “You don’t want to quote me.”

Oh, yes we do, Don.

Caught this on TV last night.

The Dreaded Evil Liberal Apostate Attack-Dog-for-That-Woman, also known as the Right Reverend Robert O’Neill, Episcopal Bishop of Colorado, is blogging from the Lambeth conference. Cool.

While the Episcopal Church has been internally struggling over ordination of gays, our brethren in the Church of England are still fighting the women’s ordination debate. A small but significant breakthrough came about over the weekend as the Church of England synod agreed that women should be allowed to become bishops.

That this is actually subject to debate — especially since the CoE allowed women to become priests in 1994 (the Episcopal Church has had women priests since 1976 and women bishops since 1989) — seems unutterably silly to me, but the fact is that many of the folks in the US leading the fight against gay rights in the church have also been those most dead-set against women’s ordination. Three Episcopal dioceses in the US still don’t ordain women to the priesthood, and many conservatives insist on calling the Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, by the title “Mrs.” instead of “Bishop” (or even “Reverend”). Some claim it’s because of her politics, but I suspect that’s a secondary issue.

So it’s not a surprise that the issue has been beset by controversy in more staid England, and that some 1300 priests have claimed they’ll quit, or hop over to the Catholics, rather than accept women bishops. 

(The primary argument against it — aside from general Biblical injunctions about women keeping in their place, dagnabbit, which even the conservatives don’t choose to proclaim loudly — is that Jesus chose only men as his twelve (closest) apostles. Of course, he also only chose Jews and speakers of Aramaic, but nobody seems to think those should be requirements for some reasons. More technical discussion here.)

Though the synod voted to accept women bishops in principle, the prediction is we won’t see any for several years. There’s further votes to be taken on processes and procedures surrounding the whole thing, plus coming up with ways to pastorally care for dioceses or parishes within the CoE that don’t want any of those female type bishops taking care of them. That leaves plenty of time for further pontification (so to speak), defection, or attempts to change the rules back.

Regardless, bravo to the CoE’s General Synod. 

(via BD, along with the post title)

Y’know, if there are folks who have theological disagreements with me, and with my church and religion and denomination, I’m okay with that. I certainly don’t have the hubris to believe I have an exclusive on the Truth, and that I have all the answers to all the questions.

That said, I expect a certain amount of courtesy and respect and propriety — and, being Anglican, such would seem to be the appropriate way to deal with each other in such disputes. Which is why the following irks me to no end:

Does Williams not understand that tens of thousands of Episcopalians and dozens of churches are fleeing The Episcopal Church because Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori preaches “another Gospel” (Gal. 1:8)

Whilst most of the press over the current schism within the Anglican Communion has focused on the whole nassssssty gay stuff, the fact of the matter is that a huge part of it is the refusal by many on the conservative/”orthodox” side to accept women in clerical roles — as priests, let alone bishops. Which is demonstrated, time and again, by insistent and intentional (and insulting) references to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church as Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as opposed to Bishop Jefferts Schori, or even Reverend Jefferts Schori.

This isn’t about 2003. It’s about 1976.

I just wish they’d be honest about it.

Rob O’Neill, the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado, is over in Jerusalem right now, by invitation of the bishop there, as a representative of the Episcopal Church to the GAFCON thingummie. (They’ve banned him from entering the conference himself, but he’s there anyway.)

He has an OpEd in the Episcopal Life magazine on the question of whether we Anglicans actually need an “Anglican Communion” or not.

The answer, I believe, is a resounding and heartfelt “yes.”
 
No one finds God alone. The intricate web of relationships that form our global Communion provide an invaluable network of mutual benefit, often bringing desperately needed resources into remote communities that others either cannot or will not reach, often making the difference quite literally between life and death. Those same relationships call us all out of our self-limited little worlds, cracking open our hearts and minds, challenging and compelling us as a kind of corrective, to see and to understand the full spectrum of Christian witness that often takes place under circumstances and with a kind of courage that many of us cannot begin to understand.

 

Do we have differences? Certainly. But as Archbishop Runcie observed, “it is only by being in communion together that diversity and difference have value.” Do those differences challenge us? Unquestionably. But those same challenges, by the grace of God, form the very crucible of our own transformation.

Communion, in other words, is not our gift to God. It is God’s gift to us.

If I still followed any of the conservative Anglican sites, I’m sure I’d see hoots of laughter, derision, and scorn at Rob over this article, but I think it’s worth reading on both ideological ends of the Episcopal Church.

That seems to be the refrain of the African Anglican primates at the “GAFCON” meeting in Jerusalem this week. Billed as a big confab of “orthodox” Anglicans to chit-chat about how nassssty those Episcopalians and liberal Canadians and English types are, and clearly being set up as an alternative to the Anglican Lambeth Conference coming up in a few weeks, GAFCON is full of archibishops from African provinces where homosexuality is the subject of both clerical condemnation and civil persecution.

But confronted with that fact, the GAFCON primates hemmed, hawed, denied, and generally acted like … well, certain clerical groups in the New Testament who were condemned for paying more attention to the Law than to God’s love and compassion.

A question from Iain Baxter, a media representative from the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, aroused expressions of disbelief and outright denial from the primates. The name of his organisation raised a discomfiting titter. Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya and is punishable by a fine, imprisonment or death.

Archbishops from these countries were on the panel. They said they could not influence government policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) legislation, nor could they condone homosexual behaviour because their churches would be shut down. They added one could not break the taboos of African society without suffering the consequences.

Right. Churches have to tread softly around the government. They can’t do or say anything that might upset lawmakers or leaders, or that might discomfit local traditions and taboos. Certainly Jesus never did anything like that, which is why he (and Paul, and Peter) led a quiet, peaceful life, living to a ripe old age by making nice to the Romans and the local Religious Authorities. Right?

(One has to wonder why, if churches cannot “influence government policy,” Abp. Akinola was so vehemently outspoken in favor of Nigerian legislation to outlaw not just homosexuality, but public support or debate over same.)

Presumably, these cultural constraints justify the punishment meted out to Prossy Kakooza, Baxter’s example of someone tortured because of her sexual orientation. She was arrested, marched naked for two miles to a police station, raped and beaten.

Well, there you go — that’s what happens when you violate societal taboos. Brought it on herself, she did. Pity the poor policemen who were so incited by her behavior — I’m sure they are receiving pastoral counseling from their local Anglican bishop.

Akinola did not condemn these acts. Neither did the other African archbishops. Orombi said he had never heard of people being tortured because of their homosexuality, that when he learned about incidents – from the western media – he was at a loss to understand why he had not heard of them. He refused to accept that persecuting and torturing gay people was done openly in Uganda.

See no evil …

It was clear they failed to grasp how homophobic rhetoric from the pulpit led to violence and intimidation, as described by Colin Coward from Changing Attitudes. Still no condemnation was forthcoming. As a follow-up I asked whether the lack of condemnation meant they condoned torture of homosexuals. It took the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, to articulate opposition to all acts of violence towards all people. The Africans didn’t even nod in agreement.

Well, now that’s settled — on with the Schism!

An interview with Dr Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney.

Dr. Jensen was recently quoted viz the current brouhaha within the Anglican Communion (emphasis mine).

…Archbishop Jensen is one of the leaders of 1000 conservative churchmen from 17 Anglican provinces who will gather at the Jerusalem Global Anglican Futures Conference this month. Mainly from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, they are united on one principal issue: hostility to homosexuality.

But Archbishop Jensen argues: “This dispute is not really about homosexuality. It’s really about authority and who runs the church. And fairly clearly, to most of the rest of us, God runs the church through the Bible“…

Except for the bits about the Sabbath and nearsightedness, apparently.

(via Fr. Jake)

Mark Harris passes on the latest news from the Episcopal Parish of Grace & St Stephens, ousted from their digs by Don Armstrong & Co. a year ago.

All of that will play out, but the good news of the moment is that exile has some blessings attached: the parish is vital and doing what it knows best – being an Episcopal Church. The people have found new ecumenical companions, reaffirmed their life together and found new energy as a welcoming community. In return from the exile from their parish it is to be hoped that they not forget what they have learned in this sojourn. This has been a difficult time for those parishioners who wished to continue as members of the Episcopal Church. Still there is much to be thankful about in being able to continue as a congregation.