Episcopal Parish Steeped in Property Battle
A bitter property battle continues at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bristol, Conn., where parishioners who defected out of the denomination continue to worship.
The Rev. Donald Lee Helmandollar of Trinity Church, who was defrocked by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut after voting with most of the congregation to leave The Episcopal Church, held a prayer and worship service at the church Wednesday night. He and the breakaway Anglicans were asked to leave the church property by July 8 but have remained.
Meanwhile, Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith had invited those who voted against the split to discuss the situation and new leadership for the remaining Episcopalians that same Wednesday night at a church in Plainville.
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"I think he has a gross misunderstanding of who the members of the congregation really are," Helmandollar said, according to The Hartford Courant. "I think he sees it as just some of us who have gone astray, when in fact it's the whole congregation."
In May, Trinity became the first church in Connecticut to split from The Episcopal Church and later joined CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) – a mission initiative of the Church of Nigeria. Breakaway Anglicans argue The Episcopal Church has departed from Christian orthodoxy and Anglican tradition. The controversy heightened when The Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop in 2003.
"It's about being faithful to biblical belief. It's not a gay issue; I have gay family members, and I pray for them as I do for anyone else," parishioner Robin Scarpa told the local newspaper.
The Connecticut Diocese had announced that it will take over the Bristol church property and asked the breakaway group to vacate the buildings on July 8, but they "refused" to leave, as Smith stated.
Parishioners who voted to leave announced through an attorney an intention to bring trespass charges against any diocesan personnel who help recover possession of parish property for the use of The Episcopal Church, according to the Episcopal News Service.
"Trinity Episcopal Church has a long and solid history as a parish of this Diocese," Smith wrote in a July 12 letter. "Its founders and members over the generations have built the parish within the family and tradition of The Episcopal Church. I truly regret that some members have seen fit to try to tear the congregation from the fabric of the Church and now lay claim to its property and assets."
The Connecticut Diocese has turned the task of recovering the church property to its attorneys, Smith stated.
Trinity Church is one of six churches in the Connecticut Diocese that are in dissent of Smith's support of the controversial 2003 consecration and have stopped sending financial support to the diocese and have sought alternative oversight.
