Episcopal congregation makes split final

Followers choose bishop or dissenter

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, April 2, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS - Set against the stately opening rituals of Holy Week, one of Colorado's oldest and largest Episcopal congregations split Sunday - some remaining loyal to Bishop Rob O'Neill and the rest following the dissenting rector, the Rev. Don Armstrong.

"It is so good to see you. It moves my heart to tears," cried Debbie Stang, one in a crush of worshippers who crowded around Armstrong after Palm Sunday services at Grace Church and St. Stephen's parish in Colorado Springs.

"I've been shot down, shot at, and I don't give up," said Armstrong, a former Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam as he gripped hands and wrapped old friends in bear hugs.

It was Armstrong's first worship service since O'Neill banned him three months ago while the diocese investigated charges that he had "misapplied funds" at the church, a landmark presence on Tejon Street since the 1800s.

Armstrong denies the charge, saying he's being persecuted as a national conservative leader fighting the Episcopal Church's support for openly gay bishops, same-sex blessings and the unraveling of scriptural doctrines.

Clergyman defies bishop

Last Monday, in defiance of the bishop, Armstrong reappeared at the parish office to announce he's reasserting control of the church he's led for 20 years. He and nine of the 11 members of the vestry, or governing board, said they were joining the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a conservative network that's become a haven for more than 30 churches that have left the Episcopal Church.

Armstrong and the board estimate 90 percent of the 2,000-member parish will vote May 5 to join them in CANA. If they don't get a majority vote, Armstrong said Sunday, they will hand over the parish to the Episcopal Church and form a congregation elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away on the campus of Colorado College, parishioners loyal to the Episcopal Church and O'Neill placed a placard outside Shove Chapel to announce the newly formed "Grace Episcopal Church and St. Stephen's Parish."

"We are the (rightful) church in that building," said Bill Hazelton, referring to the church on Tejon Street, which has been connected to his wife's family since the 1800s. The Hazeltons and more than 100 parishioners have started Grace Concerns, a group loyal to O'Neill.

"We're invigorated," Hazelton said. "Eventually we'll get the church back."

"I think it's just dreadful," said Nancy Ryan as she settled in her pew. "If Mr. Armstrong - and please note I call him 'Mr.' - wants to leave the Episcopal Church that's his choice. But he doesn't have the right to take the church with him."

Ryan said word went out to Episcopal parishes around the city Sunday, asking them to come show their solidarity to the Episcopal loyalists. That's why she was there. About 300 worshipers filled the graceful chapel, where Robert McJimsey, the only vestry member who opted to stay with the bishop, was introduced, to laughter, as "our one-man vestry."

People, property divided

Like a messy divorce, the painful divvying of property had informally begun: The entire 40-member choir, their robes and the associate rector, the Rev. Michael O'Donnell, went with the bishop.

The candlesticks, most of the vestry and the flock (an estimated 850 attended the three services there Sunday), and associate rector the Rev. Eric Zolner went with Armstrong.

There were poignant scenes as parishioners, with less than a week to decide where to throw their loyalty, discovered that longtime friends had made the same decision they did.

Carolyn Bassett joyfully hugged an old friend that she discovered also had stayed with the Armstrong camp: "At least we won't be sent to the lions," she kidded. Later, Bassett mourned that half the altar guild had sided with the Episcopal Church.

"Now we'll have to reorganize," she sighed.

There was melancholy on both sides.

O'Donnell, the priest who remained loyal to the Episcopal Church, said he did so out of obedience to the bishop of Quincy, Ill., the diocese where he has his primary affiliation. Referring to the Tejon Street flock, O'Donnell said, "I miss my brothers and sisters."

Calendar for a church divided

Important dates are coming up for both flocks:

• Thursday, 7:30 p.m: Colorado Episcopal Bishop Rob O'Neill will celebrate Maundy Thursday (Holy Week) services with the newly formed "Grace Episcopal Church and St. Stephen's Parish" at Shove Chapel, 1010 N. Nevada St., (Campus of Colorado College).

• Easter Sunday, 1 p.m.: O'Neill will celebrate Easter with the congregation at Shove Chapel.

• April 14: 9 a.m.: The Rev. Don Armstrong lays out his defense and answers parishioners' questions about the diocese's charge that he "misapplied funds" at the church.

• April 17-19: Parish meet-and-greet by Bishop Martyn Minns, the Virginia- based bishop overseeing the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). That's the conservative group that Armstrong and nine of 11 vestry members have joined.

• May 5: Parishioners vote whether to join CANA. All members listed on membership roster eligible to vote. If less than a majority on the roster agree, Armstrong and the vestry say they will turn the parish over to the Episcopal Diocese and form a new CANA congregation elsewhere.

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055