Posted on 05/27/2007 6:59:49 PM PDT by freedomdefender
Members of a Colorado Springs parish voted overwhelmingly Saturday to part ways with the Episcopal Church, citing its "departure from traditional Christian beliefs" in its permissiveness toward homosexuality.
Leaders of St. Stephen's Parish and Grace Church said that 342 of 370 voting parishioners elected to leave the Episcopal Church.
But the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado said the vote was invalid.
"People can leave the church," but whole parishes cannot, said spokeswoman Beckett Stokes.
Stokes said the diocese is trying to "regain rightful control" of the church's property.
Between 200 and 400 former members of the St. Stephens and Grace Church - people who want to continue worshiping as Episcopalians - have been forced to worship elsewhere, Stokes said.
Across the country, Episcopal parishes are breaking away from the national church over battles regarding same-sex blessings and gay bishops - both of which have been accepted by the national Episcopal Church.
But clouding the battle in Colorado is a financial investigation that the diocese, headed by Bishop Rob O'Neill, is conducting into the Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of St. Stephens and Grace Church.
The diocese contends that Armstrong "misappropriated" church funds, spending $131,000 on his children and not claiming $548,000 in church income on his taxes.
This "is nothing more than a sadly misguided effort to restore to a position of public trust a priest who is currently under ecclesiastical indictment," Stokes said.
But Armstrong said, "In as much as the bishop thinks our vote is illegitimate, I think the bishop is illegitimate. What the bishop really ought to be concerned about is whether I'll file a slander suit against him."
Asked whether he was planning to do that, Armstrong said, "Christians are not supposed to sue each other. I am a Christian and he (O'Neill) is not."
The bishop will probably get to keep the property. Here in Peachtree City, Georgia, almost all the parishioners at the Episcopal church wanted to split from the diocese, but the bishop brought out his lawyers and made some threats, so the bulk of the old parish now meets in a public hall while the church facility these same people paid for entertains a tiny handful of holdouts.
Good for them!
Ping!
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
From what I’ve read about how these court cases go, you’re probably right.
Snickersnee’s parish in Bristol, Connecticut also joined CANA effective today, (Pentecost Sunday, a fitting birthday for a new beginning.) Pray for us, please.
“I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
You can’t let property hold you back. Let them have their filthy and defiled property. All my mother’s folks were Episcopalian. The dead ones at least aren’t around to see what has happened to their church.
Does that mean actually leaving the Episcopal Church, or merely signing up as a “CANA” parish while staying in your Episcopal diocese?
It is but a thing
A place to meet
If the Bishop so loves the Property
Let it be a millstone about his neck
And a stumbling block.
Perhaps repentance will come with time
You are probably right, but it depends on how the parish was set up.
For instance, in the island we spend our summers on in Maine, the Episcopal church has always been served by Episcopal priests or ministers, in good odor with the Episcopal bishop of Maine. It is in every way but one an Episcopal church.
But the church building was incorporated by canny parishioners as a non-denominational church, with a lay board of directors who summer on the island. There’s no way on earth that they can’t do whatever they want with their church, and the bishop could only sputter.
It's best to rent, and have the rent be paid out of the weekly contributions. If the church no longer can hold its people, then it's time to dissolve it, and let the people go to where their spiritual needs are better satisfied
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. But soon after the property was put on the market because ECUSA couldn't maintain it and there were far too parishioners left. ECUSA didn't want to sell it to these folks (the only bidders), but had to in face of a discrimination suit. As a result, these folks in our province acquired a multi-million-dollar property (and beautiful church) for pennies (well, maybe dimes) on the dollar.
This is the second such case I've heard recently, and I don't get around the province much.
I guess the leadership of these national church bodies don’t think about how these strong arm tactics look to people outside of the church. Using force to keep churches in the diocese or make them forfeit their property does nothing to attract people to the church.
Results vary by state and by what the legal documents look like.
My departed Great grandfather who was a Conservative Episcopal minister is rolling in grave. My God, How is it that so many minsiters are conserivative but the leadership seams deadlock heathen left wing?!
There is a lot of merit in renting, but it’s hard to run a full slate of programs out of a rental property. You also have to set up and break down every week, and most rentals don’t have satisfactory nursery facilities.
CANA parishes are under the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, rather than an Episcopal Bishop.
Good luck in trying to maintain the church. The parishioners have left and taken their money with them.
Really? Hmmmmm, I need a change of venue, perhaps to Colorado Springs?
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