Conn. Episcopal Diocese Deposes Anti-Gay Rev.

http://www.newyorkblade.com/2007/7-6/news/national/deposes.cfm

[The New York Blade] 6 July 2007--Connecticut’s Episcopal Diocese has removed the leader of a Bristol parish that left the Episcopal church over the appointment of an openly gay bishop.

The Rev. Donald Lee Helmandollar of Trinity Church has been deposed—the equivalent of being defrocked—and the diocese will take over the church’s property on July 8, Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith said last Friday.

Trinity’s congregation voted itself out of the Episcopal Church earlier this year, becoming one of several nationwide who left their dioceses and joined the more conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Trinity has hired an attorney to fight the diocese’s order to vacate the property, Helmandollar said last Friday. He also has continued to lead worship services in the church, he said.

“We firmly believe that our church was built by and given to the Anglican communion there, known as the Trinity Church Society,” he told The Hartford Courant, adding that the church’s construction in 1746 preceded the formation of the Episcopal Diocese.

“Our own constitution says we will remain,” he said.