Monday, April 6, 2009

For two churches, a new beginning


From the Colorado Springs Gazette-

Joy was the pervading emotion at St. George's Anglican Church and Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church during Palm Sunday services, but there was also a touch of sadness.


Some Anglican parishioners mourned the leaving of the gothic stone church on North Tejon Street, while a handful of members of both parishes lamented the emotional toll wrought over the last two years following the group split.


The congregations had only a few days to organize Palm Sunday liturgies, and both groups' liturgies encountered technical and organizational hiccups. But none of that mattered.


A new day for St. George's and Grace and St. Stephen's had begun.
"It's a major transition from the huge gothic church," St. George's priest Alan R. Crippen II said Sunday, "but it feels great."


On March 26, 2007, the Episcopal congregation that met at 631 N. Tejon St. split when its vestry voted to leave the national body and align with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, or CANA. The CANA parish continued to worship in Grace Church, while the Episcopal group met at First Christian Church downtown.


A lawsuit was filed to decide ownership of the church property, leading to a 4 1/2 week trial, the longest church trial in Colorado history. Last month, a Fourth District Court judge ruled in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and the Episcopal Church, ordering the CANA parish to vacate the Tejon St. church, which it did by April 3.

The rest is here-

http://www.gazette.com/articles/church_51249___article.html/episcopal_grace.html

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