This is the latest development in a tumultuous time for Lexington's Episcopal Diocese, which in the past 13 months has seen members of two congregations leave the church and a separate case in which a priest was tried and defrocked for embezzlement.

Although a fellow bishop said Sauls is correct in ordering the clergy members to stop ministering, the leader of a conservative Anglican organization said the Lexington bishop is trying to "stamp out" opposition.

Brannen has been inhibited for allegedly acting as a priest in the diocese without the bishop's permission. He leads St. Andrew's Anglican Church, which was formed after Sauls fired the leadership of St. John's Episcopal Church in Versailles. His case could result in a church trial.

Gornik, Gulick and Linsley have been inhibited for allegedly abandoning communion with the Episcopal Church. They could be permanently barred from office unless they can show within six months that they have not abandoned the church, Sauls said.

"This is the commonly used practice throughout the Episcopal Church," he said.

Looking to foreign bishops

Since August 2003, when Robinson was ordained bishop of New Hampshire, 30 members of the clergy in 17 dioceses have been inhibited for abandoning communion, Sauls said.

Many, including three of the four clergy members in the Lexington diocese, were charged after they sought to avoid oversight from their local bishops by finding foreign bishops to supervise them.

Sauls supported Robinson's ordination. But the clergy members who have been inhibited did not. They said they think the church is drifting away from biblical teachings.

"They're here absolutely acting without oversight, and we've got to acknowledge that," Sauls said. "They may not like me. They may disagree with me. The Gospel imperative is that we keep working to reconcile."

Sauls said it's important for local bishops to maintain oversight of the clergy in their areas "in order to protect the faithful."

One other clergy member, whom Sauls did not name, could also be prohibited from ministering in the diocese because he is under the oversight of a foreign bishop. However, Sauls said that situation is somewhat different from the others he has been dealing with.

"Inhibitions are expected and absolutely done by most everybody ... whether the American bishop is conservative or liberal," said the conservative-leaning Louisiana bishop, Charles Jenkins, president of the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice.

He said inhibitions in cases where clergy members choose to sever ties with the Episcopal Church are "automatic, nothing vindictive about them."

But the Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the conservative American Anglican Council, said it's fairly unusual for a diocese to have four inhibitions at once.

He said that before members of the clergy began seeking oversight from foreign bishops, such inhibitions were reserved for those who left for different denominations.

"They're treating that as if it was outside the Anglican communion," Anderson said.

The Episcopal Church is the American branch of worldwide Anglicanism.

Anderson said he thinks Sauls is targeting specific members of the clergy. "He is absolutely desperate to stamp out anyone who disagrees with him," he said.

The local inhibitions, which were handed down Jan. 20, are expected to have little impact on the clergy members who have been told to stop ministering. Each of them said they plan to continue, and that Sauls can do nothing to stop them.

"There is no practical effect," Linsley said. "It's only intended to intimidate. I have every intention to continue working in ministry."

She resigned from her position as rector at Lexington's St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in 2003, after a disagreement with Sauls and her congregation.

She said she has not been acting as a priest since her resignation and has been teaching adult Bible classes at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Versailles. The church was formed last year by some former leaders and members of St. John's Episcopal Church in Versailles.

The conservative St. John's parish had a tense relationship with the diocese for years, and the situation worsened after Sauls voted to support Robinson's ordination.

'My crime ... is preaching'

Brannen, who leads St. Andrew's, is under the leadership of an Anglican bishop in Uganda.

He said he doesn't think he needs Sauls' permission to serve in the diocese because his church is not part of the Episcopal Church USA.

"My crime, if you want to use that word, is preaching and leading worship, and I'm guilty," he said. "My main reaction to all this is, what's the point? What does it have to do with our Lord's mission?"

Gornik said he, too, will continue to work as a priest.

"The letter has no real authority and legitimacy because I've dissolved my ties" with the Episcopal Church, Gornik said.

The members of the Church of the Apostles, which Gornik helped found, voted Jan. 16 to leave the Episcopal Church. They have formed a new church, Apostles Anglican. Gornik and Gulick said they are now under the authority of a foreign bishop, who has not been named.

"We're not trying to pick any quarrels with anyone," said Gulick, 86, who reads the Gospel, assists with Communion and dismisses the congregation at Apostles Anglican on Sundays. "It was God that ordained me. My call was from God."

Jenkins, the Louisiana bishop, has been following the situation at the Church of the Apostles and said he agrees with Sauls' actions.

"I think Bishop Sauls has really walked the walk for these folks," he said.

If Sauls did not take action against members of the clergy who turn away from the Episcopal Church, he might be placing himself in danger of violating church canons, Jenkins said.

"As the diocesan bishop, I am morally responsible for what they do while they're here," Sauls said of the clergy members who have had their papers transferred to overseas bishops. "I take that very seriously."

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