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 totaled 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