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Episcopal parish fragments further as two clergy leave

Rector's attorney says allegations likely slanderous

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 30, 2007 at midnight

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The breakup of an Episcopal parish continued Thursday in Colorado Springs.

A priest and a deacon who were hired by the renegade rector, the Rev. Don Armstrong, have chosen to stand with the Episcopal Diocese rather than side with "the secessionist" Armstrong, the diocesan office confirmed.

The Rev. Michael O'Donnell, a priest, and the Rev. Sally Ziegler, a deacon, will join an alternative Palm Sunday service this weekend at 1 p.m. at Shove Chapel, 1010 N. Nevada Ave., on the campus of Colorado College.

Both clergy were hired by Armstrong at the 2,000-member Grace and St. Stephen's church, which is now at the center of a bitter war between Armstrong and Colorado Bishop Rob O'Neill.

"There are a lot of heavy hearts around here today," said Alan Crippen, a spokesman for Armstrong, about the loss of the two clergy.

O'Donnell's and Ziegler's new congregation will consist of parishioners who object to Armstrong's mutiny.

On Monday, Armstrong appeared at the parish to take control of Grace and St. Stephen's and declare he had seceded from The Episcopal Church. He had been under a three-month banishment by O'Neill while the diocese investigated what the bishop called allegations of Armstrong's "financial wrongdoing."

The investigation, which concluded this week, alleges the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money over about 10 years, O'Neill said in a letter to parishioners.

Armstrong insists he is being persecuted for his stand against The Episcopal Church's support for openly gay bishops and same-sex blessings, policies that conflict with the traditional teachings of most of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Armstrong will celebrate the regular 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services this Sunday at the church.

Meanwhile, the flock loyal to the diocese will continue to worship at Shove Chapel for the indefinite future, said Beckett Stokes, the diocese's communications director. Easter services are now being planned.

"They're excited to move forward," Stokes said, and look to the day when their parish can be returned to them.

Wednesday night, more than 100 parishioners loyal to the bishop gathered at Colorado College to discuss their future.

For now, their graceful, century-old church, the focus of many historic walking tours, remains physically in the hands of Armstrong.

Dennis Hartley, the rector's attorney, jeered at the diocese's investigation as a disgrace and said Armstrong can refute each allegation.

"They're ridiculous and probably slanderous," Hartley said of the diocese's charges. "I think they're just guessing."

Still looming is what happens to the parish. The diocese has threatened civil action if Armstrong doesn't return the property to the diocese.

Hartley said he believes the diocese never owned the property to begin with, and said the case represents very different legal issues than a previous case decided decades ago by the Colorado Supreme Court in favor of the Episcopal Diocese.

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