"Bishop Smith has done us and the church a great injustice. He'll have to stand before our Lord one day. I don't like him and I disagree with him, but I'll pray for him," said Eleanor Little, 74, a member of the group.

Hansen and five other Episcopal priests broke with the diocese last year over Smith's support for the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the church's first openly gay bishop. The priests stopped paying their dues to the Hartford Diocese.

In July, Smith put Hansen under inhibition, a six-month suspension, claiming the priest took an unauthorized sabbatical and had stopped making payments on a loan for the church's building.

Hansen, who resigned in September, has maintained that he notified Smith about his plans.

In an e-mail to The Courant Sunday, Hansen responded to a request for comment, saying he made a good-faith denial to Smith that he had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church.

Hanson said the canons of the church call for the bishop to withdraw the notice of inhibition once a good faith denial has been received.

"Obviously, the Bishop did not follow the canons," Hansen said.

The diocese's treatment of Hansen has divided St. John's parish. Some members believe Hansen's opposition to Robinson's consecration in 2003 led to his being defrocked. The action, the final step that an Episcopal bishop can take toward a priest, effectively ends Hansen's priesthood.

About 50 parishioners left the church, created St. John's in Exile and currently worship at Trinity Church in Bristol.

"Father Mark wasn't in agreement with [Smith]," said Tammy Vogt, a group member. "The message this bishop is sending is 'Believe in my theology or you leave.'"

Gerard Belanger, who also left the church with the group, said he feels lost. "Even if we were to go back there [St. John's], it wouldn't feel like our church," he said.

On Sunday, several parishioners at St. John's Church saw Hansen's fate differently.

"It's not our matter anymore," said David Desmarais, a senior warden. "This is between the bishop and Mark Hansen."

Smith's support of Robinson also has divided priests and parishes.

In September, the "Connecticut Six" - the six priests who came into conflict with the diocese over Robinson's consecration - filed a federal lawsuit against Smith claiming their civil rights had been violated when he declared them "out of communion," a possible precursor to inhibition and being defrocked.

The six parishes sought last May to be supervised by a different bishop because of their dispute with Smith over Robinson.

The Rev. Ronald Gauss, one of five priests currently under threat of inhibition, said Hansen was Smith's scapegoat. He's not afraid of being next.

"I don't stand in fear. I've got too much work to do - to preach the Gospel," said Gauss, of Bishop Seabury Church in Groton. "I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever happens, happens," Gauss said Sunday.

In addition to Gauss, the priests involved in the dispute with Smith are the Rev. Christopher Leighton of St. Paul's Church in Darien; the Rev. Allyn Benedict of Christ Church in Watertown; the Rev. Gill Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany in East Haven; and the Rev. Donald Helmandollar of Trinity Church in Bristol.

Catherine Baker said she left St. John's because Hansen wasn't open to anyone's opinion. "It was about Father Mark," she said. "You couldn't disagree with him."

A report from The Associated Press is included in this story.

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant