Diocese votes to split from Episcopal Church

MONROEVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Clergy and lay members of the theologically conservative Pittsburgh diocese voted overwhelmingly Saturday to break from the liberal Episcopal Church.

Of 159 clergy who voted, 121 favored leaving and 33 opposed, with five voters abstaining or casting disqualified ballots. The lay vote was closer, with 119 of 191 lay deputies voting for the split, 69 voting against and three abstaining.

Asst. Bishop Henry Scriven said the vote means the Pittsburgh diocese is now more firmly aligned with the majority of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, which is more conservative than the communion’s 2.2 million-member U.S. church.

“I am delighted,” Scriven said, “that what we have done today is bringing the diocese of Pittsburgh back into the mainstream of worldwide Anglicanism.”

But the Rev. James Simons, who pastors one of at least 16 Pittsburgh-area churches that plan to remain in the Episcopal Church, called it a “sad day.”

“A majority of deputies to the diocesan convention voted for the schism. 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 said.