Leader of breakaway Colorado Episcopal parish facing financial misconduct charges

The leader of a breakaway Episcopal parish will face financial misconduct allegations in the diocese's judicial system, officials said Wednesday. The action came two days after leaders of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish in Colorado Springs, Colo., voted to leave the denomination and join a Nigerian-linked missionary diocese. They left because they were upset about the liberal theological direction of the national church, particularly when it comes to gay relationships.

Hours after the vote, diocese officials handed down the church equivalent of an indictment against the Reverend Donald Armstrong but did not release specifics. Parish leaders criticized the action against him as the product of a ''kangaroo court.''

A letter to parishioners from Colorado bishop Robert O'Neill, obtained by The Gazette of Colorado Springs, accuses Armstrong of theft and mishandling of hundreds of thousands of dollars over about 10 years. It also says Armstrong failed to report about $548,000 in income and benefits on state and federal tax forms.

Diocese spokeswoman Beckett Stokes confirmed the letter but would not provide a copy to the Associated Press. The diocese suspended Armstrong January 3 and barred him from the parish property because of the investigation.

Armstrong didn't return a telephone message but released a written statement denying the allegations.

''I fear that Bishop O'Neill's monomaniacal pursuit of the politics of personal destruction may ultimately result in the financial demise of the Diocese of Colorado and the loss of his episcopacy,'' he said.

Also Wednesday, the diocese said it may take action in state court to reclaim the parish property if leaders don't relinquish their claims to it. An Episcopal Church law passed in 1979 states that parish property is held in trust for dioceses, but a state court still may have to analyze the relationship between the parish and the diocese, according to legal experts.

Grace and St. Stephen's leaders said they had hoped to remain in the denomination but were upset with last week's decision by the Episcopal Church not to allow leaders outside the United States to oversee dissenting conservative dioceses.

The Episcopal Church says only about 45 of its 7,600 congregations nationwide have left the denomination since 2003, but they include some of the largest and most active. (Colleen Slevin, AP)