{"id":12152,"date":"2007-11-02T18:08:30","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T01:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/11\/02\/meaningless-gesture-or-justice-done.html"},"modified":"2007-11-02T18:08:30","modified_gmt":"2007-11-03T01:08:30","slug":"meaningless_gesture_or_ju","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/11\/02\/meaningless_gesture_or_ju.html","title":{"rendered":"Meaningless gesture, or justice done?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A bit of both, I suppose, depending on who you are and where you stand, Don Armstrong is no longer an Episcopal Priest as far as the Episcopal Church is concerned<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The Rev. Donald Armstrong, accused by the Colorado diocese of stealing nearly $400,000 from Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish, has been defrocked.<\/p>\n

Bishop Robert O’Neill announced Thursday that Armstrong is deposed as an Episcopal priest, in accordance with the sentence issued by the diocese’s Ecclesiastical Court. It means he can no longer officiate in the Episcopal Church in the U.S.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Armstrong, of course, is treating it as a great amusement.<\/p>\n

\n

“I’m not under Rob’s authority; I’ve already left,” Armstrong told the Rocky Mountain News on Thursday. “So it’s sort of like being fired after you’ve already quit.”<\/p>\n

Armstrong said he is a priest in good standing in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, an Anglican group for breakaway Episcopalians.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And, elsewhere<\/a>, it was noted,<\/p>\n

\u201cFather Armstrong plans to frame the instrument of defrocking and hang it in his office as a badge of honor,\u201d said Alan Crippen, a Grace CANA deacon and spokesman. \u201cWe don\u2019t take it seriously.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Y’know — theological disputes aside, that says a lot about Armstrong and what led him to this point. On the other hand:<\/p>\n

 \u201cWe will not have any further statement or additional comment at this time,\u201d said Beckett Stokes, diocesan spokeswoman. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So who’s being the “grown-up” here?  Who’s showing the animus and vindictiveness that Armstrong’s conservative supporters have been accusing Bp. O’Neil of?<\/p>\n

Armstrong’s ultimate fate, no matter where he’s in “good standing,” is, of course, is far from certain.<\/p>\n

\n

Armstrong’s defrocking is based on a church court investigation which ruled several months ago that Armstrong stole $392,410 from the church, underreported his income to the Internal Revenue Service, received illegal church loans totaling $122,479, and encumbered the church with deeds of trust totaling $2.5 million without approval from the bishop or the standing committee of the Colorado diocese.<\/p>\n

The diocese turned over its findings to the financial crimes unit of the Colorado Springs Police Department, which agreed to conduct a criminal investigation. However, the case has been on hold while the unit investigated another, unrelated case, a police spokesman said. The unit is expected to resume work on the church case next week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

(via epiScope<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bit of both, I suppose, depending on who you are and where you stand, Don Armstrong is no longer an Episcopal Priest as far as the Episcopal Church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13369,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/09\/don_armstrong_plot_thicke.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":0},"title":"Don Armstrong plot thickens","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Jan-09 5:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"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...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13501,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/episcopal_news_from_color.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":1},"title":"Episcopal News from Colorado Springs","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Nov-08 9:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"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...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/grace_police_tape.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/20\/don-armstrong-felony-thief-for-now.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":2},"title":"Don Armstrong, felony thief (for now)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Sep-10 11:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"For those just tuning in, Don Armstrong was an Episcopal priest here in Colorado who: ... ran Grace & St Stephens Episcopal in Colorado Springs. ... served as the Shadow Bishop of Colorado for many, many years, acting as the spokesman for Episcopal conservatives in the state and unofficial leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14848,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/22\/don-armstrong-arrested.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":3},"title":"Don Armstrong arrested","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 22-May-09 5:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The criminal investigation side of the whole Don Armstrong mess in Colorado Springs has moved to the next stage. His supporters pooh-poohed as nasssssty liberal church politics the Episcopal Diocese finding him guilty (in an ecclesiastical court) of fraud and financial malfeasance.\u00a0\u00a0 This was after a long diocesan investigation, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11290,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/03\/episcotrivia_on_a_wednesd.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":4},"title":"Episcotrivia on a Wednesday afternoon","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Oct-07 12:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So at what point does the national church actually step in and start taking disciplinary action against bishops -- and priests -- who decide that they are pulling up...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield_15_188.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11042,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/04\/19\/all_your_parish_are_belon.html","url_meta":{"origin":12152,"position":5},"title":"“All your parish are belong to us!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 19-Apr-07 6:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"Look out! \u00a0Dave's ranting about Episcopal stuff some more! As part of the effort to secede Grace & St Stephen's from the Episcopal Church, Rev Armstrong has been walking...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episc-shield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}