Clarifying his own place in the disagreement after months of silence, the newly installed bishop said he would not ordain active homosexuals or allow their unions to be celebrated, but promised to oppose any limits on the diocese's participation in the national Episcopal Church.

By the end of the day, the success of Howard's supporters in upholding that agenda had endangered his hopes for unity. Representatives from several of the most biblically orthodox churches said they stood on the brink of divorce from the diocese because the diocese would not divorce the Episcopal Church.

After a majority of delegates voted to continue contributing to the national church, representatives from 12 of those churches, comprising about 16 percent of the diocese, withdrew their annual contributions to the diocese. Six of those were from Jacksonville, and two from Orange Park.

Most of the dissidents said they simply wished to reconsider their contributions in the wake of the decisions by the convention. But some said their very membership in the diocese was in question.

"Our next step as a church will be to decide whether to stay or not," said Dennis Ackerson, pastor of Church of the Holy Spirit in Tallahassee. Ackerson left the convention Friday to discuss the question with his congregation. The convention ends today.

The retracted pledges totalled more than $400,000, opening a considerable shortfall in a $2.1 million diocesan budget already circumscribed by diminished giving.

12 hold back funds

Churches withdrawing their annual pledges from the Diocese of Florida: Jacksonville: All Souls, Calvary, Epiphany, Nativity, Redeemer, Resurrection Orange Park: Good Samaritan, Grace Church Tallahassee: Advent, Holy Spirit Gainesville: St. Michael's, High Springs: St. Bartholomew's.

Two of the largest churches in the diocese pledged to increase their contributions but did not specify an amount.

"The bishop remains confident that we will meet our budgetary goals," said Thomas Mantz, a spokesman for the diocese. "We will work with everyone in the diocese to try to meet the needs of our ministry."

The meeting might have taken as its theme the national church's approval of an active homosexual as the next bishop of New Hampshire. While much of the local diocese is united in opposition to that decision, made in August, delegates are deeply divided over how to respond.

In his address, Howard attempted to move the diocese past its disagreements by calling on the delegates to focus on their shared obligation to help the needy and to bring people to the church.

He warned that theological disagreement was an inadequate reason to hamstring the good works of the church.

And he wished for a time when a person introduced as an Episcopalian would be asked not about "The Issue," but about his or her participation in a church best known for good works.

But such a time lies solidly in the future, and most delegates remained fixed on their disagreements over the proper financial and legal relationship between the diocese and the national church.

For the most part, Howard's supporters prevailed.

The most significant accommodation allows churches to decide whether their funds will go to the national church or to another charity. In the fall, the sum of those decisions sent 46 percent of total contributions to the national church and 54 percent to other charities.

But a resolution to declare the diocese autonomous failed. Delegates also delivered a temporary setback to supporters of the orthodox Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, declining to mandate that Howard decide on membership by March 1.

Howard said Thursday he intended to explore membership irrespective of the vote. Some orthodox delegates who did not withdraw their funding Friday said a decision not to join could push them from the diocese as well.

Finally, in the most contentious hearing of the day, delegates voted for contributions from churches to pass through the diocese along the way to either the national church or another charity.

A substantial minority said it could not tolerate an arrangement in which the diocese forwarded money to the national church from the pool that included their money, too. The minority had proposed allowing churches to bypass the diocese instead.

When the vote went against that, they came to the microphone one by one, to give the name of their churches and the amount of money they said they could no longer provide.

Sam Pascoe, rector of Grace Church in Orange Park, the largest dissident church, retracted a pledge of $75,000 for reconsideration. Pascoe said the church was not talking about leaving yet, even if it sent the money somewhere else.

"The relationship to the diocese is not defined purely in terms of money," he said. "It's defined in terms of believing the same things and working toward the same goals."

That, he acknowledged, was a diminishing piece of common ground.

END