Townsend said the label doesn't seem to fit, since the cemetery in the old church where she attends services contains the graves of several ancestors, and she has a plot there herself. Relatives buried in the old cemetery include George Pawley, one of the two men who bought the land in 1745 for use as a church.

The "visitor" label started to sting when Townsend learned she can no longer serve on the church's archives committee, a duty she performed for 10 years. The position is open only to members, church leaders told her Friday.

"It's just absolutely ridiculous," Townsend said.

Guerry Green, senior warden of a new vestry that represents the congregation still affiliated with the Episcopal Church, also finds his downgraded status unsettling.

"To be told all of a sudden that you're a visitor, when your family helped keep that church going during its leaner years, it's hurt a lot of people," he said.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina will continue to fight the congregation that wants to turn a $50 million church complex into a Rwandan missionary outpost.

Most of the parishioners have been transferring their membership to Rwanda. Those who want to remain Episcopalians can continue to attend services, but they're considered visitors now.

The legal fallout is ruining chances for a compromise that could allow members who want to remain Episcopalians to hold services on the property, the congregation's leaders say.

About 450 members at All Saints Parish Waccamaw voted last month to sever ties with the diocese and join the Anglican Mission in America, a network under the oversight of Anglican leaders in Rwanda and South East Asia. All Saints is mission headquarters, under the leadership of the Most Rev. Chuck Murphy, a former rector at All Saints who became a missionary bishop of Rwanda.

The majority at All Saints considers the Episcopal Church too liberal, especially since the denomination accepted an openly gay bishop and same- sex blessings last year.

S.C. Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr. also believes the Episcopal Church took a wrong turn last year, but he has been urging members to stay and try to reform the denomination.

About 45 members at All Saints say they will remain Episcopalians. They want to continue to hold services with an Episcopal priest in the old church where many have attended for years, across from the main campus that draws a younger, more contemporary crowd.

The vestry in control denied the request Friday. It's not possible because of an ongoing lawsuit between All Saints and the diocese, Senior Warden Russ Campbell said.

"The bishop has the power to resolve this by dropping the appeal," Campbell said.

The diocese appealed a Georgetown County judge's ruling that said the denomination has no claim on the church property because of the wording of the 1745 deed that set up the trust for the parish.

"If the bishop would withdraw his appeal, we would sit down and talk about it," Campbell said. "As long as there is a legal matter in front of us, there's nothing to talk about."

In a meeting last week with those who want to remain loyal to the diocese, Salmon defended his decision to wait for a court ruling. It wouldn't make sense to drop the appeal now that the diocese has already spent $250,000 defending itself, he said.

"The diocese didn't sue anybody," Salmon said. "... We are in it because we were sued, not because we sued somebody."

All Saints sued the diocese after the diocese filed a public notice stating that churches hold property in trust for the diocese. Salmon said he filed the notice after hearing All Saints planned to leave the diocese.

An appeals court panel heard arguments from the lawyers in September 2003. Nobody can predict when the court might issue a ruling, said attorney E.N. Zeigler of Florence, the diocese's chancellor, or legal adviser.

The meeting with those who want to remain a part of the diocese was held at Litchfield Plantation after the vestry in control said Salmon couldn't meet on church property with the lawsuit going on.

At the meeting, Salmon referred to a letter he sent last month to members of All Saints. Part of the letter explains why he could not allow a parish simply to declare its independence from the diocese.

"The basic issues on the table are those of lawlessness and the stability of the diocese itself," Salmon said in the letter. "If any parish in the diocese can unilaterally decide to not be under the Canons, appoint vicars, do what they want to when they want to, our strength as a diocese is soon destroyed. There is no authority, only individual choice. That is exactly why the Episcopal Church is in the mess it is in. Bishops have individually acted without accountability, believe or not believe as they choose. That is lawlessness. It is my duty to oppose it."

END