Tim,
Let me look into this. The VFSClassPathXmlApplicationContext should work, I believe that for a reason or another it's picking up the wrong classloader, but I'm not sure.
regarding "classpath:spring/*Context.xml" - this is always a tricky resource location spec - usually the best form is "classpath*:spring/*Context.xml" because the former will try to resolve *Context.xml from the first 'spring/' location found on the CP - may or may not be the one you want. So, try this too.
But as I said, I'll try looking into this.