WINTER PARK, Fla.  The Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida rejected the national denomination's policies on homosexuality, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
By wide margins, delegates to a special diocesan convention gave Bishop John Howe a strong conservative mandate to take with him to a summit of conservative Episcopalian leadership in Dallas next month.
The Episcopal Church, USA, has been in turmoil since August, when its general convention in Minneapolis confirmed the Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the denomination's first openly homosexual bishop and allowed local parishes to bless same-sex unions.
In Winter Park, 400 voting delegates condemned both actions by an estimated 3-1 ratio, the newspaper reported. In Albany, N.Y., conservative Episcopalians passed similar resolutions.
The Rev. Donald Curran of Grace Episcopal Church in Ocala called the national convention's actions "egregious and divisive" and said they were leading the denomination down a "trail that many cannot and will not follow."
