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Armstrong trial iffy for Oct. 18 start, attorney says

September 8th, 2010, 1:57 pm by

Dennis Hartley, attorney for the Rev. Don Armstrong, who is accused of embezzling nearly $400,000 to finance his children’s higher education, says the client’s criminal trial may or may not start on Oct. 18.

But it’s not Hartley’s fault. “We’ve set aside time to try the case,” Hartley told me today. The reason for the wishy-washy aspect of the Oct. 18 date is typical this far away from the trial, he said. Things should be firmed up by late September.

Rev. Don Armstrong

As for the trial itself, Hartley said he feels “good” about vindicating Armstrong in the case.

The trial was originally scheduled to begin Feb. 22, but attorneys had scheduling conflicts.

Armstrong, the former rector of Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs, was indicted April 2009 by a 4th Judicial District grand jury on 20 felony counts of theft charges. The indictment concluded an 11-month investigation by Colorado Springs police and the Pueblo District Attorney’s Office into Armstrong’s alleged financial misconduct while rector of Grace.

Police maintain that between 1999 and 2006 Armstrong funneled about $392,000 of church funds earmarked for Episcopal seminarians to finance his two children’s college education.

If convicted on all felony counts, Armstrong, 60, could spend the rest of his life in prison. Each count comes with a possible prison sentence of four to 12 years.

The Pueblo District Attorney’s office is prosecuting the case because of a conflict of interest with the local DA’s office. Former Springs DA John Newsome was on Armstrong’s vestry at Grace and St. Stephen’s.

Armstrong is no stranger to trials. He was the focal point early last year in a trial to determine ownership of the $17 million Grace and St. Stephen’s Church property downtown.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/news/trial-94570-armstrong-today.html#ixzz0yyPxK7re

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An Episcopal priest finds his way with Catholic Charities

June 17th, 2010, 2:39 pm by

In my “Pulpit” column, which you can read at www.gazette.com on Sunday, June 20, I write about the Rev. Michael O’Donnell.

As my column points out, O’Donnell was leading Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal parish downtown during a period after it had been exiled from the Grace Church property in March 2007.

He resigned in October 2008. You can read more about his resignation in

The Rev. Michael O'Donnell

 my “Pulpit” column here that ran Dec. 12, 2008.

O’Donnell started at Catholic Charities in March 2009.

Below are edited excerpts from my interview with O’Donnell.

BARNA: “Why did you resign as priest-in-charge at Grace Church in October 2008?”

O’DONNELL: [He said he wanted to leave before the property trial began in February 2009 because he couldn't stand to see friends of his split over the issue.] “It wasn’t about choosing sides for me.”

BARNA: “You were hired by Catholic Charities to run their fundraising department in March 2009. Do you have experience in that area?”

O’DONNELL: “I was VP for institutional advancement at Northeaster Christian College where I did fundraising.”

BARNA: “What do you do at Catholic Charities?”

O’DONNELL:“I manage the grant writing, fund raising, annual campaign. I handle marketing and communications. I’ve created 11 blogs, brought in Twitter, Myspace. I took them from 1.0 to 2.0 in embracing social media.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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Anglican leaders react to Vatican move to allow Anglicans into the fold

October 21st, 2009, 12:35 pm by

As reported in a post below, Pope Benedict XVI is making the road to Catholicism easier for those Anglicans unhappy with the election of women and gay bishops.

According to the AP, the Pope approved a new church provision allowing Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while keeping many of their own traditions, including having married priests.

But what do Anglican leaders say about this? Curiously, those part of the Anglican Church in North America – a group of mostly disaffected Episcopalians who feel the Episocpal Church has become too liberal — say it shows failures not only within the Episcopal body but also within the Anglican Communion. Read my Gazette story on the ACNA here.

Below Martyn Minns, a bishop within the ACNA, and Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of ACNA parish St. George’s Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, weigh in.

* A statement from Bishop Martyn Minns:

“The Vatican is opening a door for Anglicans who sense a call to be part of the Church of Rome to join that body and still maintain Anglican traditions. This move by the Catholic Church recognizes the reality of the divide within the Anglican Communion and affirms the decision to create a new North American province that embraces biblical truth. While we welcome the positive response from the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury regarding the Vatican’s provision, we urge Lambeth Palace to move swiftly to fully endorse the efforts of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the Anglican Church in North America to keep the Anglican family together.

“Rome is reminding Anglicans that our historic, orthodox faith is more important than culture and more important than geography. (The Convocation of Anglicans in North America) itself bears witness to the fact that God’s church is made up of believers across the globe. The centrality of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture are the unwavering bonds that have drawn CANA churches and others within the Anglican Church in North America together. Our continued prayer is for Anglicans across the world to be able to stay faithful to orthodox beliefs.”

* Below is Rev. Armstrong’s statement on the Pope’s decision:

 

“This is a profoundly important moment in history, moving us ever closer to a reunion of all biblical Christians into a cohesive fellowship. It represents a significant movement toward one another of those who have

Rev. Armstrong

Rev. Armstrong

lived with a certain discord for over 500 years.

“This reaching out from Rome to Anglicans is an event necessitated by an aggressive rejection of biblical orthodox faith by the Episcopal Church on the one hand and an Archbishop who has been seemingly spiritually frozen from being able to confront this misbehavior by Episcopal bishops.

“Benedict has long been a supporter of orthodox Anglicans, and a friend of those who uphold the faith once delivered, and has kept a caring and concerned eye on our plight within our own church, a plight that reached an intolerable level this past summer with a canonized departure from the faith, and an escalation and intensifying of persecution of orthodox Anglicans by the Episcopal Church leadership.

“But. alas, we have a hand of fellowship and communion extended by a true godly leader appointed by Christ himself.”

 

 

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Parishioners asked to pay criminal defense of Rev. Don Armstrong

October 2nd, 2009, 10:13 am by

I’ve been reporting a lot over the last year on Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) parish now called St. George’s Anglican Church.

Rev. Armstrong

Rev. Armstrong

At the center of controversy has been the Rev. Donald Armstrong of St. George’s.

The CANA parish lost a Fourth Judicial District court case this year in a bid to take legal possession of Grace Church in downtown Colorado Springs. The case cost the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado $2.9  million, and Armstrong says the CANA parish paid about $750,oo0 in legal fees.

Armstrong was a driving force in seeking legal ownership of Grace after he and his vestry voted to leave the Episcopal Church.

A few weeks ago, St. George’s sent out a call to parishioners to pony up more money, “including (legal fees for) our continued defense of the Rev. Armstrong, ” who has been charged with stealing about $392,000 in church funds while he was rector of Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal downtown. The case is set to go to trial Feb. 22, 2010.

Here is a portion of the letter that went out:

“The final settlement of the property case, resulted in the following obligations: $336,796 in legal fees including our continued defense of Father Armstrong, $164,165.39 in payroll taxes to the IRS, $60,455.79 in bills related to our last months at 601 North Tejon St., and $41, 662.53 in costs related to our relocation and establishment as St. George’s Anglican Church.”

Parishioners are asked in the letter to pony up a onetime gift of $1,500 to pay the costs.

Do you think it’s right that parishioners should  pay for Armstrong’s criminal defense? Please comment below.

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ACNA spokesman: “We are starting down the path of recognition”

August 22nd, 2009, 8:43 pm by

The Anglican Communion and its U.S. arm, the Episcopal Church, are a complex structure of councils, hierarchies and mission groups. In this respect the Anglican Communion certainly resembles the Roman Catholic Church.

In my Gazette story for Sunday, Aug. 23, on the the Anglican Communion in North America (ACNA), I try to cut through the archaic terms and complex internal structure to explain how and why the ACNA came about and  its relationship is to the Anglican Communion.

Put simply, the ACNA members got tired of the liberalism of the Episcopal Church and formed their own more conservative U.S. group they call the ACNA. Now they want the Anglican Communion to officially recognize the ACNA, but there are impediments to that because the Episcopal Church is already the U.S. arm of Anglicanism, and the sect has never had two provinces in one geographic area.

The ACNA is a  complex mix of missionaries of African Anglican provinces, former Episcopal dioceses now under the jurisdiction of the South American Anglican province, the Reformed Anglican Church founded in 1873 and other groups.

The two missionaries represented in the Springs are the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) and the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA). The ACNA Springs churches are St. George’s Anglican Church, part of CANA, which is a missionary of the Church of Nigeria; and the International Anglican Church and Holy Trinity Anglican Church, both part of the AMIA, which is a missionary of the Church of Rwanda.

Confused yet? You aren’t alone.

Below are edited excerpts of intervews I conducted with ACNA leaders that may shed more light on the organization.

Donald Armstrong is the rector of St. George Anglican Church in

Rev. Armstrong

Rev. Armstrong

 Colorado Springs.

MARK BARNA: Why has the ACNA set up shop in the United States?

ARMSTRONG: As the Episcopal Church ceases to uphold historic and catholic teachings, as it becomes just another denomination or sect disconnected from the Anglican Communion and catholic faith, and as it drifts ever more quickly toward a new age Unitarianism, there needed to be a structure within which Anglicans who confessed the faith of Christ crucified as taught and accepted through the ages could organize themselves under bishops whose own life and witness was a wholesome glorifying of godly living, and by which they could be connected to the larger Communion as the Episcopal Church severs those ties.

BARNA: What does the establishment of the ACNA accomplish?

ARMSTRONG: ACNA was created at the request of the archbishop of Canterbury as a way to gather all the orthodox Anglicans in North America into a single coherent entity with which he and the primates could communicate and eventually name as a replacement province for the Episcopal Church as it departs the Communion.

Below are edited excerpts from my interview with Daryl Fenton, the reverand canon to ACNA archbishop Robert Duncan.

MARK BARNA: Will the ACNA be recognized as the 39th province of the Anglican Communion?

DARYL FENTON: Does the vast majority of the Anglican Communion support the ACNA? The answer is yes. Have we gone through all the political hoops with the Anglican Communion? No. We are in the process. Eighty percent of Anglicans around the world recognize the ACNA. We are starting down the path of recognition.

BARNA: What is wrong with the Episcopal Church?

FENTON: The larger issues are core issues of faith and life … Is Scripture trustworthy at all? … Most telling of all is that Kathryn Jefferts Schori (presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church) a couple weeks ago said that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is heresy.

BARNA: What is the ACNA?

FENTON: A relaunch of the church. It is a revival, a restoring of the authority of Scripture and Jesus Christ as the leader of the church.

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St. George’s Anglican Church moving downtown?

August 3rd, 2009, 12:15 pm by

Since Easter, St. George’s Anglican Church, a Convocation of Anglicans in North America parish that in spring lost its property fight for Grace Church on North Tejon Street, has been meeting in rented space in the Mountain Shadows area.

But that may change soon. The Rev. Don Armstrong says St. George’s is looking for church property downtown. “We are in the process of deciding as a congregation to purchase a prime piece of property in the downtown area to establish an Anglican presence in the center of Colorado Springs,”

Rev. Armstrong

Rev. Armstrong

Armstrong wrote in an email.

“That site will have a very purposefully designed building to accommodate large worship services, educational programs for all ages, and significant outreach programs,” Armstrong said.

What do you think of the possibility of St. George’s being  virtual neighbors with Grace and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on North Tejon Street, which won the property case over Grace?

Meanwhile, Armstrong says the CANA parish has grown since Easter,  when weekly attendance reportedly was 60o, resulting in the creation of additional services on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

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Attorney: Armstorng criminal trial not till summer 2010

June 4th, 2009, 3:49 pm by

The criminal trial of the Rev. Don Armstrong, indicted on 20 counts of felony-theft charges and currently free on a $20,000 bond, won’t begin until summer 2010, said Dennis Hartley, Armstrong’s attorney.

Rev. Don Armstrong

Rev. Don Armstrong

“We just received nine three-spring binders three inches thick” from the Pueblo District Attorney’s Office,  Hartley said. “It is going to take a long time to prepare this case for trial.”

“It will be impossible to be ready before summer 2010,” Hartley said.

When the case finally goes to trial, it will be in Fourth Judicial District court downtown.

Why will the case take so long to go to trial? Please comment below.

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