MONROEVILLE, Pa., Oct. 4 (UPI)

The Episcopal diocese of Pittsburgh voted Saturday to cut its ties with the church, affiliating with a conservative Anglican province in South America.

Clergy delegates to the diocesan convention voted for departure from the Episcopal Church 121-33, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Lay delegates approved separation 119-69.

While conservatives have a range of disagreements with the Episcopal Church, the consecration of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, a gay man in a committed relationship, set off a firestorm in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Province of the Southern Cone in South America and churches in Africa have been working with U.S. conservatives.

Immediately after the vote, the priest at Calvary Church in East Liberty announced that his congregation would stay with the U.S. church.

Presiding Bishop Katherine Jeffords Schori released a statement saying that she expected most Episcopalians to be “intensely grieved” by the Pittsburgh vote, Episcopal News Service reported.

“I have repeatedly reassured Episcopalians that there is abundant room for dissent within this church, and that loyal opposition is a long and honored tradition within Anglicanism,” she said.

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