COLORADO SPRINGS: Church Property Dispute Unresolved. Trial Ordered
Church Will Continue to Stay in Hands of CANA Priest
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
May 14, 2008
A judge of the El Paso County District Court of Colorado ruled that a property dispute between Grace Church & St. Stephen's and the Episcopal Bishop and Diocese of Colorado cannot be resolved by summary judgment and must go to trial court.
Judge Larry E. Schwartz ruled, however, that Grace Church and St. Stephen's legal argument for ownership of the property is valid as they have been a valid, non-profit corporation recognized by the State of Colorado since 1973.
When asked if the majority of the congregation that stayed with Grace Church could remain on the property, the Rev. Don Armstrong told VOL that it means precisely that. "We do stay in the building. A trial date is currently set for Feb 24, 2009. In the mean time, our congregation continues to flourish. God is adding to our numbers day by day. More people are worshipping each Sunday at Grace Church than all the other Episcopal Churches in Colorado Springs combined. Our new programs have been met with great enthusiasm and our congregation's spiritual health is the best I have ever seen it."
Armstrong said he was very pleased that Judge Schwartz is hearing this case. "He has a reputation for thoroughness and precision, which these circumstances require. We trust that whatever the outcome, it will have been well adjudicated. Defrockings, personal law suits, character assassinations, and false claims being used by Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori and her bishops is not only un-Christian, but un-American.
"Unlike the ecclesial court in Colorado that thought it could adjudicate civil matters in a religious court, Judge Schwartz is not going to try to adjudicate religious matters in a civil court. The decision here will be based on Neutral Principles of Law, and that part of this ruling we consider to be very wise and hopeful.
"Although our opponents have a complicated house of cards for an argument, our case is relatively straight forward and clear because it is the truth. We look forward to the final outcome, although that itself is over a year away."
Judge Schwartz's decision was in response to a hearing held on May 2, 2008, at the El Paso County Courthouse in which 18 members of Grace Church and St. Stephen's requested that personal lawsuits brought against them by the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado be dismissed.
In May of 2007, Grace Church and St. Stephen's voted to affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) in a congregational election. Of the 370 votes cast, an overwhelming 342, or 93%, voted for Grace Church and St. Stephen's, one of the oldest Episcopal Churches in Colorado, to leave the Episcopal Church over its departure from traditional Christian beliefs and practice.
Since that time, the Episcopal Bishop, Rob O'Neill, and the Diocese of Colorado have sued the corporation of Grace Church and St. Stephen's, 18 individual members and lay-leaders of the congregation, and an affiliated elementary school, St. Stephen's Classical School, for the 17 million dollar historic landmark church building in downtown Colorado Springs.
