In a letter to Bishop O'Neill, Armstrong said the blessing of same sex
relationships had no basis in the Prayer Book formularies and defies Canonical prohibitions against sex outside of marriage. He went on to say that this "new thing" will never be accepted because it is an aberration, diminishes our witness and makes us look profoundly sick and silly!

Armstrong also took issue with the bishop over the diocesan Task Force
set up to look at current divisions in the Diocese concluding that it was on the wrong track trying to find common ground for continued diocesan life.

Armstrong told the Rev. James Harlan, rector Church of the Ascension,
Denver who heads the Task Force that the situation was hopeless with
Bishop O'Neill commitment to same gender relationships and that
"what we need is direction on how to divide the assets, how to give everyone title to their property, because we are certainly not
going to live together if these fundamental disagreements are left
in place."

"There is no common ground that transcends the kind of thinking process that arrives at same sex blessings. We are truly divided between those operating from a concern for rights and choices and those holding the faith of the prophets and apostles," wrote Armstrong.

Then Armstrong lit into the revisionist bishop.

"I would certainly consider joining with others in a pastoral/spiritual
relationship stoppage until such time as we have a commitment from you to uphold Communion teaching in all things, and to maintain Communion membership without equivocation. Your fine tuning of how Communion authority might be understood is nothing more than a dodge--being too smart by half, putting your personal discernment above subjection to the body."

"Rob, as I have said many times, we don't care what you think, we care
what the church (defined as the larger Body of Christ--certainly greater
than merely ECUSA but no less than the Communion) teaches. Your weren't elected to make personal decisions about either teaching or Communion membership for us, but to uphold and protect both the teaching and membership already given."

"To even have the reservations you seem to hold, to have such ambiguous answers to some of the questions we asked you yesterday was in itself distressing. Do you know that the only position you took with any energy was that you would not further discipline Bonnie Spencer (who continues to live in a sexually intimate relationship outside of marriage)?"

"I am discouraged and exhausted after such a dismal meeting with the 20 orthodox rectors. That we now have established as seemingly irrevocable a large group of practicing homosexual clergy; that same sex blessings are occurring with impunity in our diocese; that you merely shrug in a false display of powerlessness at the liberal disobedience is a real sign of spiritual and communal decay."

"Of course I am not persuaded that what is happening here is anything
less than what you want. It is clear to me that your overt ambiguity is
merely designed to placate the conservatives while the revisionist
agenda moves ahead and becomes firmly entrenched--completing the shift from orthodox to secularist begun by the failed and faithless Winterrowd."

"Nothing less than repentance will bring healing to the Diocese of
Colorado, said Armstrong. We will not bargain with 'the pressures of
well meaning people from the other side.' There is truth and there is
error and one must simply choose."

Which will you choose Rob?

Armstrong said the Diocese of Colorado was in free fall - into a new
religion of rights and choices - now rejecting the faith of the prophets
and apostles. "Lord Carey was right--we are becoming an American Sect--a religion in which it is no longer Christ who lives, but me, my partner, and whoever will bless us."

END