Source: Telegraph (London), Fort Worth Star Telegram, New York Times
Clergy and lay delegates of the theologically conservative Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese voted overwhelmingly Saturday to dissociate from the Episcopal Church and temporarily associate with a more orthodox Anglican group.

Fort Worth is the fourth diocese to secede since 2003.

The diocese, formed in 1982 as a spinoff of the Dallas diocese, is one of three that refuse to ordain women as priests, a practice the national church voted to accept in 1976, New York Times reports.

The other three breakaway dioceses are Pittsburgh; San Joaquin in Fresno, California, and Quincy, Illinois which officially seceded earlier this month.

The breakaway votes have come after a long-running debate over church reforms that culminated with the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003.

About 80 percent of clergy and parishioners in the Texas diocese supported the break in a series of votes at a diocesan convention.

"The time has come for a new path," Jack Iker, bishop of the Fort Worth diocese, said in an address to delegates and visitors gathered at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford for the diocese’s annual meeting, Fort Worth Star Telegram reports.

"The Episcopal Church you once knew no longer exists. It's been hijacked."

A lengthy, expensive legal battle is expected over who owns Episcopal property and funds. The Fort Worth diocese oversees more than 50 parishes and missions serving about 19,000 people, London's Telegraph reports.

Fort Worth Episcopalians who oppose withdrawal say that five parishes and hundreds of parishioners will stay with the national denomination.

Dr. John Burk spoke Saturday on behalf of the opposition, saying the attempt to break from the national church was illegal and extracanonical, and would "put our diocese in schism."

Judy Mayo, director of children’s education at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, spoke in favor of the break, saying she was deeply troubled by an "anything goes" philosophy in which some Episcopal churches perform same-sex unions, according to the New York Times.

"If something is morally wrong in Texas, my friends, it is wrong in Montana or California or Connecticut or Kentucky," Mayo said. "It's either right or wrong according to God’s word."

She added: "The train of the Episcopal Church and the apostolic faith are simply on a collision course now. It is time to make a clear and clean break."

The diocese was welcomed Saturday into the Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina, but supporters of the alignment claim it is temporary, pending the formation of an orthodox Anglican province in North America.

The vote confirmed results of an initial poll last year, when about 80 percent of Fort Worth clergy members and laity supported the proposition, New York Times reports.

Those who said they will remain with the Episcopal Church, expressed resignation and sorrow.

"It’s certainly no surprise," said Walter Cabe, president of the Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians, an umbrella group of conservatives and liberals who opposed the split. "But more than ever, we have a great deal of respect for rectors and parishes who have identified themselves loyal to the Episcopal Church regardless of pressure."

The Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, president bishop of the Episcopal Church, issued a statement that said the church "grieves the departures of a number of persons from the Diocese of Fort. Worth."

"We remind those former Episcopalians that the door is open if they wish to return," the statement said. "We will work with Episcopalians in the Diocese of Fort Worth to elect new leadership and continue the work of the gospel in that part of Texas. The gospel work to which Jesus calls us demands the best efforts of faithful people from many theological and social perspectives, and the Episcopal Church will continue to welcome that diversity."

Source: Conservative diocese in US splits from Episcopal Church | Telegraph (London) 
Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese votes to dissociate from national church | Fort Worth Star Telegram
Diocese in Texas Leaves Episcopal Church | New York Times

anglican, state_tx