April 19, 2007 An Anglican bishop on Wednesday night made the case to members of an embattled Colorado Springs parish on why they should secede from the Episcopal Church.

The parish's rector, the Rev. Don Armstrong, is being threatened by the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado with civil and criminal lawsuits involving allegations that he misused hundreds of thousands of dollars of church money. Armstrong says the diocese is persecuting him for his conservative views.

Last month, as his legal woes mounted, Armstrong and a majority of the church vestry, or board of directors, seceded from the Episcopal Church in the U.S. to join Minns and 35 other congregations in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

Minns and CANA are under the authority of the Anglican province of Nigeria, which agreed to sponsor conservative churches fleeing the Episcopal Church.

Minns told parishioners he believes CANA represents "a good way forward" at a time when the Anglican Communion itself appears to be fracturing. Most of the 38 Anglican provinces worldwide object to the U.S. church's stand in favor of gay clergy and same-sex blessings.

Minns and 11 Virginia churches are embroiled in multiple lawsuits with their own Episcopal diocese and the Episcopal Church USA over church property. But he said he believes the Armstrong case is the only one in which the Episcopal hierarchy is accusing a seceding pastor of personal wrongdoing.

Besides talking to parishioners, Minns said he is in Colorado to support Armstrong and his wife, Jessie, who have been his friends for 30 years. "I'm here because I care," he said.

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