Pa. Episcopal diocese votes to secede

By Sean D. Hamill - New York Times News Service

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — As expected, a wide majority of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted Saturday to leave the national church and align with a more conservative South American branch as part of the continuing fallout from the 2003 appointment of an openly gay bishop.

"We have had a historic day here in Monroeville," said Bishop Robert W. Duncan, who was removed by the national church as the diocese's bishop on Sept. 18 because of his push for secession.

Duncan, who is expected to be returned to his post as the diocese realigns, finished his short speech to the audience Saturday with the Spanish salutation, buenos días — a reference to the diocese's new affiliation with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina.

In a tense meeting marked by calls for calm from both sides in the debate at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Monroeville, a suburb just east of Pittsburgh, 119 of 191 laity voted in favor of leaving the national church, and 121 of 160 clergy also voted to secede.

"This is a sad day," said the Rev. James Simons, the only member of the diocese's Standing Committee, the lead administrative body, to vote against seceding. "They took the convention's theme, 'A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand,' and today caused the Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh to be divided indeed."

Simons, who will lead the reconstitution of the diocese with the national church, including choosing a new bishop later this year, said at least 16 of the 74 parishes in the Pittsburgh diocese are expected to stay with the national church.

Pittsburgh becomes the second Episcopal diocese, after San Joaquin in California, to vote to leave the national church.

In all four cases, the movement is driven by theologically conservative leaders who think the church has turned away from traditional Biblical teachings.

The opinion has led to a 30-year debate that boiled over when Bishop Gene Robinson, a Lexington, Ky., native who is openly gay, was appointed in New Hampshire five years ago.