Monday, October 20, 2008

Springs churches finding new life after trails, tribulations

Don Armstrong is quoted here as saying that the parish will be joining a newly created province in the Anglican Church and that his vestry is being "interrogated"! I wonder if they still wear fedoras in Colorado Springs?

Grace Church & St. Stephen's: This gothic landmark has had it all: prestige, prosperity, a storied history - and now, a fight to the death with its former mother church, the Episcopal Diocese.

Out of the limelight for a year, the Rev. Don Armstrong had some fresh news Sunday about the legal battle over who owns this stately property.

The rupture, as in many dioceses around the country, revolves around conservative parishes rejecting the increasingly malleable doctrines of the Episcopal Church for strict, traditional Anglicanism.

Armstrong announced that three former vestry members are being deposed today in the ongoing civil lawsuit, which goes to trial in February. (He'll be deposed soon.)

Still master of the dramatic quote, Armstrong asked for prayers for the vestry members. "Interrogations by the other side are not pretty - pray they can face the enemy who challenges us," he said.

After losing one-third of his parishioners, membership is now back up to 1,400, he told me. Later this year the parish will be joining a newly created province of conservative Anglican churches. And how will he feel if the diocese gets the property? Armstrong shrugged: "Our community is not defined by a building."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/20/torkelson-springs-churches-finding-new-life/

No comments: