COLORADO SPRINGS: Grace Episcopal leader steps down as trial approaches

The conservative "faction" mentioned in the article is the vast majority of parishioners. ed.

Via VirtueOnline:

by Mark Barna
THE GAZETTE
http://www.gazette.com/articles/grace_45375___article.html/leader_strong.html
December 26, 2008

If ever a church needed a strong leader, it was Grace & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.

The congregation had been exiled from its home in the majestic stone structure on North Tejon Street, after a conservative faction that broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado remained in the building.

On Oct. 5, 2007, the diocese tapped the Rev. Michael O'Donnell to be priest in charge of a church that had no permanent home. His Episcopalian flock found a temporary place to hold services, first at Shove Chapel on the Colorado College campus, and then at First Christian Church downtown. Everything seemed to be going fine, and then, without warning, O'Donnell resigned in October.

There's nothing sinister going on. O'Donnell told me he wants to try something else, though he's not sure what that might be.

But he also said he wanted to leave before the start of the Feb. 10 trial over who owns the $7 million North Tejon Street church property: the Episcopal Church, or the breakaway group led by the Rev. Donald Armstrong, which then affiliated with the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

"It's painful to see the church you love divided," said O'Donnell, 52, who had been an associate rector under Armstrong. "I felt rather than be in the middle of a court case, I would leave because I have done what I needed to bring them to a place of stability and safety."

The diocese gave O'Donnell a generous severance package, so he can afford to take his time figuring out his next move. A New York Episcopal diocese is interested in his taking over a parish, and he's also considering writing his eighth book, said O'Donnell, who still lives in Colorado Springs.

Although he's gone, his impact on the local Episcopal congregation lives on: Clelia deMoraes, spokeswoman for Grace Episcopal, said O'Donnell was the right leader at the right time. "His greatest accomplishment was keeping us together," she said.

The Rev. Martin Pearsall, who led St. Francis Episcopal in Colorado Springs before it closed a few years ago, came out of retirement to fill O'Donnell's vacancy until the area bishop makes an appointment. "Michael had a lot of gifts, and he did a wonderful job holding this congregation together during very difficult circumstances," Pearsall said.

A social conservative, O'Donnell learned a lot leading a predominantly liberal Episcopal parish.

"It's easy to love people who are like you, but not so easy to love those who are against what you hold dear," O'Donnell said. "That would have derailed me before in a relationship. But I learned that different views are actually a good thing."

END