Ohl pointed an accusing finger at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, an orthodox parish and the diocese' largest, after most of its members fled the Episcopal Church over the consecration of V. Gene Robinson, an avowed homosexual to the episcopacy. St. Nicholas had 500 members with 400 active and a budget of nearly $500,000. The apportionment to the diocese is over $100,000. Their five year old building is valued at $3.5 million. The group moved to Midland where they started Christ Church and came under the ecclesiastical authority of the Rt. Rev. Dunstan Bukenya, Bishop of Mityana, Uganda.

In his letter to the diocese, Bishop Ohl said none of the apportionment was paid in the first five months of 2005, a sum amounting to just under $50,000. "Their total apportionment of $109,000 will not be paid in full, and those who chose to remain with St. Nicholas do not have the resources to pay this sum."

But a former member of the church said the bishop misrepresented the financial condition of the church and did not tell the truth about the funds the church left behind.

VirtueOnline has received documents from a source in the former church revealing the "exact figures" of what St. Nicholas left behind as of 4/30/2005.

On May 31st St. Nicholas left over $200,000 in the bank and the current vestry, not the old one has been making decisions on apportionment since June 1. The apportionment for 2005 is not due until the end of the calendar year. The monthly payment is only a custom, it is usually paid quarterly. Furthermore the St. Nichols' recently hired Tom Burns as a deacon in charge. "I guess they can afford him," said the source.

A source who asked not to be named sent the following breakdown of amounts the church left behind for the bishop.

* $161,060.64 being the balance of the Operating Account and checking money market funds.

* $52,948.21 was left in Capital Plant Fund.

* $7,985.46 was left in the Maintenance Reserve money market account.

* $26,618 was left in restricted funds that included $8,250 for medical insurance (to reduce the deductible), and unexpended loaves and fished grants totally $7,500 and contributions of $5,750.00 for a Youth Minister Salaries, and a trailer insurance reimbursement of $1,868.00.

All in all, the total amount left behind by the parish was in excess of $277,000 with most of it in unrestricted monies, said the source.

"I don't see any way on God's green earth that they can't pay their assessment to the Diocese. The old St. Nicholas' Vestry hadn't made a decision not to pay the assessment; they only decided to forgo monthly payments until such time as we could be sure that we could meet our local obligations through the end of the tear, since canonically there is no requirement that the assessment be paid on a monthly basis."

"I don't think the people who left St. Nicholas' can take full credit or blame for the financial problems of the diocese," said the source.

A former member of St. Nicholas, Glenn Polhemus wrote in an e-mail, "It is my opinion that our diocese and the national church will only respond to economic stimulus, and that is the only way they will change. I really think that the "one-time" asking should be sent to Bishop Griswold. He seems to have incredibly deep pockets. He got us into this mess. Let him finance the short term fixes or deal with the problem he created."

VirtueOnline phoned the bishop and sent an e-mail asking for an explanation but did not receive a reply.

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