Grace Episcopal faces new loss: funds
By PAUL ASAY
THE GAZETTE
March 15, 2007

Grace Episcopal Church, still reeling from the suspension of its prominent rector, is facing another crisis: a substantial dip in revenue.

According to the Grace vestry’s senior warden, Jon Wroblewski, the church is looking at a $300,000 shortfall of its projected $1.8 million 2007 budget, if current giving rates continue. Though he says the church has “recovered a bit” lately, the vestry sent a letter to parishioners this week saying some had “intentionally chosen to suspend their financial giving” after the Rev. Donald Armstrong was suspended.

“In order to fulfill our responsibilities to this Parish, either those Parishioners will need to resume their financial giving, or we’ll be forced to continue cutting back on our ministries,” the letter reads. “We are leaving the outcome up to God and His will.”

The letter underscores the divisions that have sprouted at Grace since Bishop Robert O’Neill, head of the state’s Episcopal diocese, suspended Armstrong under suspicion of misusing church funds. Armstrong recently hired Colorado Springs attorney Dennis Hartley and faces a potential showdown with the diocese in Ecclesiastical court. the rest