Episcopal parish in Springs invited to join breakaway group
Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
Published April 19, 2007 at midnight
An Anglican bishop on Wednesday night made the case to members of an embattled Colorado Springs parish on why they should secede from the Episcopal Church.
"Frankly, the decision you're facing is the biggest decision your church will ever make. You should make it together," Bishop Martyn Minns told about 150 parishioners at Grace and St. Stephen's Church.
The parish's rector, the Rev. Don Armstrong, is being threatened by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado with civil and criminal lawsuits involving allegations that he misused hundreds of thousands of dollars of church money. Armstrong says the diocese is persecuting him for his conservative views.
Last month, as his legal woes mounted, Armstrong and a majority of the church vestry, or board of directors, seceded from the Episcopal Church in the U.S. to join Minns and 35 other congregations in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
Minns, who is based in Virginia, represents a conservative branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which believes the Episcopal Church has abandoned scriptural authority and traditional doctrines on sexuality.
Armstrong hopes to persuade a majority of his parish's 1,500 to 2,000 members to join CANA in a vote May 20.
Minns and CANA are under the authority of the Anglican province of Nigeria, which agreed to sponsor conservative churches fleeing the Episcopal Church.
Minns told parishioners he believes CANA represents "a good way forward" at a time when the Anglican Communion itself appears to be fracturing. Most of the 38 Anglican provinces worldwide object to the U.S. church's stand in favor of gay clergy and same-sex blessings.
But the U.S. Episcopal Church refuses to back down.
"We're a mess," Minns said in an earlier interview, referring to a likely schism. "Many things are incoherent."
Minns and 11 Virginia churches are embroiled in multiple lawsuits with their own Episcopal diocese and the Episcopal Church USA over church property. But he said he believes the Armstrong case is the only one in which the Episcopal hierarchy is accusing a seceding pastor of personal wrongdoing.
Besides talking to parishioners, Minns said he is in Colorado to support Armstrong and his wife, Jessie, who have been his friends for 30 years. "I'm here because I care," he said.
torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055
Featured
-
DNC in Denver
Complete coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
-
The Crevasse
A five-part series that examines one tragic day on Mount Rainier.
-
Deadly denial
Sick nuclear workers applied for government compensation but most haven't seen a dime.
-
Final Salute
The Rocky followed Maj. Steve Beck as he took on the most difficult duty of his career.
-
'Colorado's burning'
Coverage of the state's worst wildfires.
-
Columbine shootings
Coverage of the April 20, 1999, shootings at Littleton's Columbine High School.
-
The Crossing
Colorado's deadliest traffic accident killed 20 children on Dec. 14, 1961.
-
Osveli's journey
Osveli Sales left Guatemala for a better life. Two months later, he came home in a box.
-
Wake for an Indian warrior
Oglala Sioux bestow a tribute to the first tribal fatality in Iraq.

