It is clear, as I work through what are now formal accusations against Me and about which you have been informed in a letter from the diocese, That there is nothing about these allegations that cannot be reasonably understood when all, not just some, of the facts are available. It is my own and the vestry's intention to share with the congregation all the facts, and we are confident that the operation of our church and my participation in parish decisions will be fully exonerated.

The reality of my innocence, however, is a possibility Rob O'Neill is unwilling to let disrupt his own fantasy that I have done something terribly wrong, and his fierce determination to destroy me has made it impossible for anyone to participate in granting me a fair hearing in the ecclesial system of the Diocese of Colorado for fear of their own professional well being. I have not been afforded due process in any way. I have been prevented by inhibition from responding to the allegations against me. I have been treated as guilty until proven innocent.

The oppressive environment created by the bishop's obsession has lead investigators to ignore clear evidence refuting his assumptions, and to create over their year long investigation a report in which every accusation contains a fine print footnote that admits a lack of crucial and decisive information to be certain of their assumptions.

For example, what is known as the Betzer Report suggests that I did not declare the value of my church provided housing and fees for weddings and funerals on my taxes, but that assumption is footnoted indicating that they did not have access to my taxes to confirm their accusation. The fact is they never asked to see my taxes until the last few weeks, and then it was a demand to just turn over to them all my records. I will share with the congregation at our meeting on April 14th, copies of my tax returns showing that I have always declared on my taxes the value of the church provided rectory, as well as any gifts or gratuities I might have received for doing a wedding or funeral.

A goodly amount of the bishop's and standing committee's concern has to Do with my taxes, which are actually none of their concern. But to clear my Own name of charges by my bishop protector turned bishop prosecutor I have submitted my taxes to the IRS for their evaluation.

In addition, the church financial records are being subjected to an independent forensic audit to assure that all the transactions in question have sound explanations and have been handled appropriately. It is important for you all to know that even the bishop's own audit found no money missing, and a preliminary review by the vestry's audit committee found that all checks were signed by the wardens and recorded in our accounting system according to practices and procedures in place at the time. In addition to having been subjected to our annual outside audit, our annual financial reports to the congregation have also reflected accurately our income and expenses.

Much of the bishop's complaint has to do with scholarships granted to my children for college. This is a common practice in the church and our own system for doing this was patterned after other Episcopal Churches of a similar size and budget to Grace Church. These scholarships, like all financial arrangements with staff members, were negotiated with and handled by the wardens.

An allegation has been made about my misuse of the church's Discretionary fund, which strictly interpreted in recent years can only be used for The poor, although in the past has been what the name implies, a fund Available at the rector's discretion, paying for parishioners therapy, taking People out for coffee, having parishioners for dinner. Of particular importance At Grace Church is that, unlike most churches where the discretionary fund is a checking account managed by the rector, our discretionary fund is managed by the church bookkeeper, all checks require two signatures, and the account is audited annually. We stopped a more general use of the discretionary fund some time ago, and now use it only for the poor as these newer rules require.

In the past our parish has been generous in granting pay advances for Our staff. Through this investigation we have been informed that apparently Colorado Statutes do not allow such advances or loans. This is a practice we will now cease as the recent vestry letter indicated.

On Saturday morning, April 14th, at 9:00 a full report will be presented To the parish. I wish we could do this even this Saturday, but we have just received the allegations and an appropriate independent investigation and response will take a couple of weeks to finish. Remember the bishop has been working on this with unlimited resources for over a year.

At this same meeting on April 14th an entirely different matter, the decision of the vestry to leave the Episcopal Church because of the Episcopal Church's own decision to leave the Anglican Communion, will Also be fully discussed. Although leaving the Episcopal Church has allowed me For the first time in three months to both return to my ministry and to Share with you all the particulars of these charges, this important decision was based purely on the lack of tolerance the Episcopal Church now has for those of us whose theology is informed by the scriptures and the traditions of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and TEC's determination to walk apart from catholic Christianity.

It is my prayer that despite the turmoil caused by those who have reacted without allowing time for an adequate explanation, that we will walk in the steps of Jesus, through the charges, counter charges and persecution of his own life, all led by the high religious leaders of his time, and thereby remember his own humility and trust in the Father.

Thank you for allowing me to begin the process of addressing the allegations which have been made against me and also to maintain our full participation in the larger Anglican Communion. I look forward to this upcoming period of mutual openness, healing and discernment.

Please feel free to contact me either at Grace Church (633-5529) or by e-mail (GraceRector@aol.com) if you have any questions or concerns

Faithfully yours,

The Rev. Donald Armstrong, Rector
Grace & St. Stephen's Church