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	Theft Accusations Called 'Fantasy' By Carol McGraw The Gazette [Colorado] March 31, 2007 http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20757&template=article.html In the latest volley in the battle for control of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish, the Rev. Donald Armstrong wrote a blistering letter to his parishioners Friday calling theft accusations against him by the Colorado Episcopal Diocese and Bishop Robert O'Neill "a fantasy" and "spiritual attack." The two-page letter outlines Armstrong's response to allegations after a months-long diocesan investigation. He is accused of theft and other financial improprieties. No decision has been made about pursuing criminal charges, diocesan spokeswoman Beckett Stokes said Friday. Armstrong said in his letter that O'Neill's "determination to destroy me" has made it impossible for anyone to grant him a fair hearing in the ecclesiastical system. He said he has not been allowed to dispute the accusations formally and has been treated as "guilty until proven innocent." "Rob O'Neill is unwilling to disrupt his own fantasy that I have done something terribly wrong," Armstrong wrote. Armstrong said "the oppressive environment created by the bishop's obsession" led investigators to ignore clear evidence refuting the assumptions." In the diocesan report, every accusation contains a fine print footnote that admits a lack of crucial and decisive information to be certain of their assumptions, Armstrong said. The bishop had no comment on Armstrong's letter, Stokes said in an e-mail, adding, "We will continue to pursue the matter through the appropriate canonical process." The Colorado diocese suspended Armstrong during its investigation of alleged irregularities. Grace's vestry, or board of directors, voted Monday to reinstate Armstrong and break away from the diocese and Episcopal Church. The church is now affiliated with a conservative Anglican church in Africa, saying the Episcopalians have strayed from theological tenets of the Anglican Communion to which both belong. Armstrong has said the controversy has been fanned by his outspoken conservative viewpoints in the more liberal diocese. He said in the letter that all questioned financial transactions have "sound explanations and have been handled appropriately." He says he has submitted his taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and the church's financial records are being subjected to an independent forensic audit to ensure everything has been handled appropriately. "It is important for you all to know that even the bishop's own audit found no money missing," Armstrong said, and added that a preliminary review by the vestry's audit committee found all checks were signed by wardens and recorded. Armstrong said the bishop's complaints about scholarships granted to his children is a common practice in the church and patterned after other Episcopal churches. The arrangements were negotiated and handled by the church financial wardens, he maintains. So, too, was his use of the church's discretionary fund, which was available for such things as paying for parishioners therapy and taking people out for coffee and dinner. He added they stopped a more general use of the discretionary fund some time ago and now use it only for the poor as newer rules require. He noted that in the past the parish granted pay advances to the staff, but through the investigation have been informed Colorado laws do not allow such advances or loans. "This is a practice we will now cease," Armstrong wrote. A full report will be presented to the parish at 9 a.m. April 14, including details on the decision to cut ties with the Episcopal Church, the letter stated. Contact: carol.mcgraw@gazette.com
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