Tuesday night, the Most Rev. Nathan Kyamanywa will hold a confirmation service for about 30 people, many of them ex-Episcopalians. Apostles Anglican Church, where Kyamanywa preached yesterday, and St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Versailles, where he will preach Sunday, are both affiliated with the Church of Uganda.

In an interview, Kyamanywa said his diocese came to Kentucky to not to fight, but to "rescue" Anglicans who have been abandoned.

"Our coming is not causing any division. Actually our coming is nursing and providing care for the people who are hurting," he said.

The 2003 ordination of an openly gay man, Lexington native Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire sent tremors through the 77 million-member communion.

The Lambeth Commission, which was created by the communion to help quell the uproar, said the U.S. church had "breached the bonds of affection" by mishandling Robinson's ordination. In its "Windsor Report," the commission also criticized bishops like Kyamanywa, saying they "must respect the autonomy and territorial integrity of dioceses ... other than their own."

Don Armentrout, a leading Episcopal historian, said Kyamanywa and other Third World bishops could sow "utter chaos in the life of the church" if they continue to meddle in overseas dioceses.

"They're creating the division. They cause the problem by invading another jurisdiction. It's highly inappropriate. It is wrong. It is destructive of the church," Armentrout said.

Since the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., bishops have respected their colleagues' boundaries, Armentrout said.

But the Church of Uganda, appalled by the Episcopal Church's acceptance of gay bishops and permissive views of homosexuality, is no longer "in communion" with the 2.2 million-member American denomination, Kyamanywa said.

The Ugandan church is not alone. Anglican churches in many foreign countries say they are in impaired or broken communion with the Episcopal Church.

As a result, Anglican bishops from South America and Africa are increasingly willing to set up shop in the United States. More than 70 Anglican parishes in this country now receive foreign oversight, according to the Anglican Communion Network.

A church in Elizabethtown is part of the diocese of Bolivia. Two others, St. Patrick's in Lexington and St. Paul's in Corbin, have ties to Rwanda.

The exodus of Episcopalians in some cities helps explain why the denomination's average attendance and membership have declined.

But the breakaway groups are still a small minority.

In the Lexington diocese, for example, more than 3,000 people worship in Episcopal churches each week. Attendance at the new Anglican churches is a fraction of that: about 330.

The ripples from Robinson's ordination stretch across continents and denominations.

The Windsor Report stated that "the overwhelming response from other Christians, both inside and outside the Anglican family, has been to regard these developments as departures from genuine, apostolic Christian faith."

Asked whether the Episcopal Church is still a Christian church, Kyamanywa said, "I don't know."

Lexington Bishop Stacy Sauls, who has clashed with leaders of the breakaway churches in Central Kentucky, did not authorize Kyamanywa's visit.

Asked about the boundary crossing, Sauls said in a written statement, "We are going to continue to open our hearts and our hopes to reconciliation. We are living by the recommendations of the Windsor Report, and we invite Bishop Nathan to do so as well. The cause of reconciliation would be furthered if everyone would work cooperatively rather than adversarily."

Retired Bishop Mark Dyer, the only American on the Lambeth Commission, said the new churches are harmful.

"They have systematically divorced themselves from the Episcopal Church. To have another bishop come in and to participate -- I don't hesitate to use the word schism," he said.

But false teachings are even more damaging than division, Kyamanywa said. "Unity is important, but it doesn't supersede correct doctrine." If you go

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