Grace Church timeline

GRACE TIMELINE

1894: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church begins worshipping in a building erected on Tejon Street.

1923: The church has financial problems; it agrees to merge with another Colorado Springs parish, Grace Episcopal.

1926: A gothic-style church is built as an addition to St. Stephen's original building to provide more worship space. The original St. Stephen's building becomes the church's parish hall. The newly named Grace Church & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church costs $300,000, which includes $8,000 raised in a citywide funding drive to build the tower.

1987: The Rev. Donald Armstrong joins Grace Church & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church as rector.

2003: Episcopal Church elects its first openly gay bishop.

March 2006: Episcopal Diocese of Colorado begins investigation of Armstrong after receiving a complaint of possible financial misconduct.

December 2006: The diocese suspends Armstrong for 90 days for misappropriating funds.

March 26, 2007: The diocese releases detailed financial misconduct allegations against Armstrong. The same day, Grace Church's vestry votes to leave the Episcopal Church to join the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America, citing, in part, the church's ordination of gay clergy. The Anglican congregation continues to worship at the Tejon Street building.

April 1, 2007: Grace & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, the congregation still aligned with the Episcopals but exiled from the Tejon Street building, holds its first service at another location.

April 2007: The CANA church files a complaint with the court to determine ownership of the North Tejon Street property

May 2007: Parishioners of the CANA congregation vote to support their vestry's decision to leave the Episcopal Church. Of the 370 votes cast, 342, or 93 percent, voted to align themselves with CANA. The group also voted 348 to 22 to retain the real and personal property of Grace Church.

August 2007: The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado files a complaint with Colorado Springs police saying that $400,000 in church funds had been embezzled. An ecclesiastical court representing the diocese convicts Armstrong of stealing the money - a move that has no teeth outside the denomination. The court also concludes that Armstrong committed tax fraud by underreporting his income and causing the church to issue false W-2s.

October 2007: An audit conducted by a Colorado Springs certified public accountant at the request of the local CANA congregation found no financial wrongdoing on Armstrong's part. The diocese stood by its findings.

November 2007: Episcopal bishop defrocks Armstrong.

Nov. 26, 2008: Colorado Springs police detectives raid Grace Church & St. Stephen's to seize paper financial records and computers as part of a theft investigation launched more than a year earlier.

Feb. 10: The trial to determine who owns the $17 million Grace property starts in Fourth Judicial District Court. It goes on for 4 1/2 weeks.

March 24: Judge Larry Schwartz rules that the property belongs to the Episcopal Church and Colorado Diocese - not to the CANA congregation.

March 25: Judge Larry Schwartz orders the CANA parish to leave the Grace property by April 3.

March 26: CANA congregation names itself St. George's Anglican Church.

March 30: St. George's Anglican Church begins moving out of Grace church on North Tejon.

April 5: St. George's Anglican Church and Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church celebrate Palm Sunday: St. George's at their new location in Mountain Shadows and Grace at the gothic church on North Tejon.