Episcopal group ditches pastor

Conservative clergyman faces church charges

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

A conservative Episcopal organization that counted the Rev. Don Armstrong as its executive director and had offices at his Colorado Springs church has broken with him.

The Anglican Communion Institute (ACI), is the second conservative Episcopal group this month to distance itself from the embattled Armstrong.

Armstrong is being threatened with criminal and civil charges related to an investigation by the Episcopal Diocese. In a six-count presentment - the church equivalent of a civil indictment - the diocese alleges he misused hundreds of thousands of dollars over a 10-year period at Grace and St. Stephen's Church.

Last month Armstrong defected from the Episcopal Diocese to join a conservative Anglican organization that represents churches that object to the Episcopal Church's departure from traditional doctrines on sexuality and scriptural authority. Armstrong says the diocese is persecuting him for his conservative views.

On Saturday, as Armstrong was defending himself in a meeting with parishioners, three top ACI directors issued a statement:

"In consequence of the legal and ecclesiastical struggles Grace Church and Father Armstrong are now engaged with, we judge it proper to dissolve our relationship with the web-site and all activities of Grace Church . . . so that the charges of the presentment and other matters of public trust and ecclesial jurisdiction might be resolved without interference."

The statement was issued under the names of ACI's president, Christopher Seitz, its vice president, Philip Turner, and the Rev. Ephraim Radner, a Colorado- based theologian and supporter of conservative causes in the Episcopal Church. He is listed as ACI's senior fellow.

Ten days ago, Radner joined other leaders in The Communion Laity and Clergy, a network of conservative Colorado Episcopalians, to support the diocese's authority to pursue Armstrong in church court. Radner could not be reached for comment.

In an e-mail, Seitz declined to discuss details but said, "ACI will continue its work, and is now doing just that. What its future is, formally, will be affected in minor ways by what happens with the fate of Grace Church." Seitz indicated that the group does not want to leave the Episcopal church, but wants to work from within for conservative change.

ACI is at the heart of the diocese's allegations that Armstrong misapplied funds at the church. The allegations involving ACI refer to Armstrong alone.

In the presentment, which includes charges of theft and tax fraud, the diocese also charges that Armstrong used ACI money to improperly fund scholarships for his children.

The diocese alleges theft of several hundred thousand dollars in an arrangement involving ACI scholarships distributed through a scholarship vehicle, the Bowton Trust, and an entity identified as the Armstrong College Fund.

The presentment says none of the Armstrong College Funds was authorized by the church's vestry board. Armstrong insists it OK'd the payments.

Armstrong said in an e-mail Monday that his ACI colleagues' break was a surprise. "I have worked side by side with these men for several years," he wrote. "But essentially ACI's work is done. Their mission is no longer valid as the Episcopal Church enters its last days, and their house of cards comes tumbling down."

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055.