Episcopal Diocese Votes to Secede

"An Episcopal diocese in central California voted Saturday to split with the national denomination over disagreements about the role of gay men and lesbians in the church.

Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173 to 22 at their annual convention to remove all references to the U.S. church from the diocese's constitution, said the Rev. Van McCalister, a diocesan spokesman. The diocese, in a later vote, accepted an invitation to join the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, a conservative South American congregation of the worldwide Anglican Communion."

Gracious God, have mercy your Church. Forgive us when, in our weakness, we reject our brothers and sisters in Christ. May you give us the strength to love as Jesus loved, so that all may be united in you.