Colorado's
largest Episcopal congregation was left in turmoil after
leaders voted to leave the denomination and the state's
bishop responded by dismissing the parish's
leadership. The controversy at Colorado Springs' Grace
Episcopal Church and St. Stephen's Parish is the latest in
a tense dispute among Episcopalians and their fellow
Anglicans worldwide over how they should interpret
what the Bible says about sexuality and other issues.
The vestry of
Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish on Monday voted to
bolt from the national church and instead join a
conservative Anglican diocese based in Nigeria. The
move came three months after its pastor was placed on
suspension amid an investigation of church finances.
The Right
Reverend Robert O'Neill, bishop of the diocese of
Colorado, rejected the church's move, dismissing the
local leaders and saying the Colorado Springs parish
would remain part of the Episcopal Church. ''The fact
is people may leave the Episcopal Church but parishes
cannot,'' O'Neill said in a statement.
The church's
longtime rector, the Reverend Donald Armstrong III, who was
suspended late last year, said O'Neill no longer has
jurisdiction over the parish. ''He doesn't have an
army. The courts will not interfere in an internal
church dispute,and the congregation is solidly behind us,''
Armstrong said.
Beckett Stokes, a
spokeswoman for the Colorado diocese, said church law
states that all parish property and assets are held in trust
for the diocese. She declined to comment on
Armstrong's reaction.
The leaders of
Grace and St. Stephen's voted to join the Convocation of
Anglicans in North America, a missionary diocese of the
Church of Nigeria led by Archbishop Peter J. Akinola.
Armstrong has led
the 2,500-member congregation for 19 years. The diocese
said in a statement January 3 that he had been placed on
90-day leave the previous week, following a nine-month
review of the church's finances. It did not release
details of the allegations against him.
Parish leaders
cited the handling of Armstrong's suspension, along with
the denomination's rejection of the ''historic faith,'' as
reasons for the vote.
Senior warden Jon
Wroblewski said the parish had fought for a return to
orthodoxy within the denomination but has lost hope in
reform. ''It's clear that The Episcopal Church no
longer believes in the historic, orthodox Christian
faith common to all believers. It's also clear that
purported Episcopal values of 'inclusion' do not apply to
orthodox believers,'' Wroblewski said in the
statement.
Several Virginia
Episcopal churches voted late last year to align with
Akinola, including prominent congregations in Fairfax and
Falls Church. Clergy in the breakaway churches were
warned by Episcopal leaders that they could be removed
from the ministry.
The Episcopal
Church is the U.S. wing of the 77 million-member Anglican
Communion, a fellowship of churches that traces its roots to
the Church of England.
Anglicans have
been debating for decades how they should interpret
Scripture on salvation, truth, and sexuality. Those
divisions reached the breaking point in 2003 when
Episcopalians consecrated the church's first openly
gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. (Colleen
Slevin, AP)
