Diocese wants Grace Church

Saying it owns Grace Church and St Stephen’s Parish, the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado asked a judge to evict the breakaway congregation worshipping there.

The diocese filed an answer and counterclaim in 4th Judicial District Court on Thursday asking for possession of the church building on north Tejon Street.

It also asked the court to declare that because the breakaway leadership has renounced its affiliation with the Episcopal denomination, they have no claim to the property, worth an estimated $17 million.

The counterclaim says the group worshipping in the church, which voted to secede from the Episcopal Church in March, has no legal right to the building, which was held in trust for the diocese.

“It is a shame that a small, misguided group has forced this litigation by illegally taking possession of the church property,” diocesan Chancellor Lawrence Hitt said in a statement. “This litigation is not about theology or differences of opinion in the church, it is an effort by that breakaway group to distract attention from the very serious charges of theft and misconduct against (the Rev. Donald) Armstrong.”

Asked if the diocese is trying to evict Armstrong and his followers, diocesan spokeswoman Beckett Stokes said “The diocese intends to regain possession of the property that has been illegally occupied by the secessionist group.”

Alan Crippen, spokesman for Armstrong’s followers, said he wasn’t surprised by the diocesan filing. He said the Episcopal Church doesn’t care for people as much as it does “property and money,” and he said that one former Episcopal church, Denver’s St. Mark’s, was sold after a lawsuit and has since been turned into a nightclub.

“That’s probably going to be the future of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s if the diocese of Colorado wins this case,” he said. “So no one wins.”

The diocese’s filing is the latest salvo in an ongoing war over finances, theology and the parish’s landmark Gothic building at 601 N. Tejon St.

Most members of Grace Church, which until recently had been Colorado’s largest Episcopal parish, left the Episcopal denomination this March — ostensibly over matters of theology.

The conservative parish had been at odds with the national Episcopal Church’s stance on issues such as gay clergy, and on March 26 it voted to leave the Episcopal Church and align with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America — a conservative body aligned with the Anglican province of Nigeria.

“They have departed from the faith,” Crippen said of the Episcopal Church.

But others believe there was another reason for the split — protecting Armstrong, the parish’s longtime pastor, from charges that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Grace.

Bishop Robert O’Neill, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, suspended Armstrong late last December while it investigated him for financial mismanagement.

Grace’s vestry was largely supportive of Armstrong, however, and it voted to reinstate him when it left the denomination. The majority of parishioners also have remained loyal to the longtime rector. Those who wanted to remain with the Episcopal Church now worship elsewhere.

The fight over church ownership was expected. Grace CANA — the group loyal to Armstrong — filed a motion in District Court April 6, asking for church ownership. In it, Grace CANA claims that the parish actually precedes the existence of the Colorado diocese, and the parish has never received money from the diocese. Since 1987, it claims, the parish has made $6 million in improvements without diocesan help.

Martin Nussbaum, a lawyer representing the diocese, said “the law regarding the property is quite clear,” and that it definitely favors the diocese.

The diocese also asked the court to essentially strip ecclesiastical authority away from the leaders of Grace CANA. The move would help the diocese close down Grace’s bank accounts, which diocesan officials suspect Grace CANA is using and rightfully belong to the group still loyal to the Episcopal Church.

According to the filings, Grace CANA was preparing for a showdown over the property from the day the vestry voted to leave.

March 26, the evening after the vote to secede, Armstrong allegedly wrote a letter to the vestry’s senior warden, Jon Wroblewski, saying O’Neill “has no army and no keys and no authority — possession is nine-tenths of the law, and I have the microphone.”

Armstrong asked Wroblewski to send the message to the other vestry members. Wroblewski did so, adding “Prepare for battle. Ramming speed.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0367 or paul.asay@gazette.com