VICKSBURG, Miss.  A group of about 40 Episcopalians who left the denomination because it confirmed the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as its first openly homosexual bishop, has found a temporary home, according to The Clarion-Ledger.
The group, which has met at Vicksburg's Wilsonwood Lodge since Sept. 28, will move to the chapel of St. Francis Convent, now part of the Southern Cultural Heritage Center.
"There comes a time in a person's life when he must take a stand for what is biblically correct and the true inspired Word of the Lord," said Steve Golding, a Mississippi Episcopalian for 53 years. "I guess over the years quite a few of us have been dissatisfied with the movement of the Episcopal Church USA, but up until this last convention, most of us have been tolerant."
Mississippi Episcopal Bishop Duncan M. Gray III said he regrets Golding and the others left the church, which he described ad broad and diverse enough to accommodate all.
"I grieve for the loss of anyone within the fellowship of the church," Gray said. "Our door continues to be open to all sorts of conditions of people and it is my home we can find reconciliation in our future."
The 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church is part of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. There are about 22,000 Episcopalians in Mississippi, the news service reported.
Robinson is scheduled to be consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire Nov. 2.
