Should delegates decide to formally break with the national church at a convention Saturday, all parties expect a protracted legal battle over the diocese's millions of dollars in real estate.

"The sentiment of many of the pastors is Christ first, property second," said the Rev. Van McCalister, a spokesman for the diocese, whose lush, mission-style headquarters sits at a busy city intersection. "If we're successful in defining who we are as Anglicans and keeping our diocese intact, I think it's going to be encouraging to other dioceses in the Episcopal Church that are looking to do the same thing."

On Thursday, leaders of the national church offered conservatives more independence through the creation of a leadership position called a "primatial vicar," who would work with dioceses and perform functions that normally fall to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, including consecrating local bishops. It was unclear how the move would effect San Joaquin's decision.

Though the majority of the 2.3 million-member U.S.-based denomination support Jefferts Schori's progressive views on women priests and same-sex marriage, San Joaquin is one of numerous conservative dioceses seeking to circumvent the U.S. church in favor of direct representation in England, or in a more conservative national church abroad.

The Anglican Communion, which lacks a governing body like the Vatican for Roman Catholics, includes 77 million people in 164 countries. Each of the 38 provinces is self-governing. The provinces in turn are divided into dioceses like San Joaquin, which includes a wide swath of Central California.

"One has the right to speak out and say one disagrees," said the Rev. J. Robert Wright, a church history professor at General Theological Seminary in New York. "But once trust is broken the only thing that's left is formality and law. In San Joaquin, now it's too late for much to be changed."

Earlier this year, Schofield and bishops from Pittsburgh, Central Florida, Dallas, Fort Worth, Quincy, Ill., South Carolina and Springfield, Ill., asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a traditional national leader to oversee them, instead of Jefferts Schori. The Dallas bishop later withdrew his signature.

Last month, Schofield signed a statement of allegiance to Latin American archbishops exploring the creation of an alternate province in the U.S., said the Rev. Rick Matters, a parish priest in Lodi. One Bakersfield mission affiliated with the 8,000-plus member diocese already adheres to a bishop in South Korea.

Those actions have set off a poignant and often bitter debate among worshippers. Members speak of the diocese's "divided heart," and worry where they'll pray should its 48 churches secede, and should the airy diocesan chapel become off limits.

If change is necessary, some progressive members say they'd rather align with the diocese in San Francisco, where two openly gay priests were among candidates to become bishop earlier this year. Traditionalists like Schofield favor a literal interpretation of the Bible, as opposed to more progressive views of the Scripture that allow for committed gay relationships.

"The Episcopal Church has not abandoned the faith and has not thrown out the Bible," said Matters, of Remain Episcopal, a group of clergy and lay people. "This kind of division breaks the heart of Christ. We must live in the creative tension of agreeing to disagree and sharing Christ's love as most important."

Even if more than half of clergy and lay delegates vote to separate Saturday, that decision will not become final unless it's approved by a two-thirds majority at a meeting next year, said McCalister. If members decide to adhere to an overseas bishop, the national denomination would act to reconstitute the diocese, said a spokesman for the Episcopal Church.

The conflict became heated long before this weekend's convention. Last summer, four California bishops levied formal charges against Schofield, when he suggested the diocese was intending to secede, but those charges were dismissed by church authorities.

Two weeks ago, Jefferts Schori sent a public letter to the bishop that said leaving the church would be akin to violating his ordination vows.

"Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence," she wrote. "The more honorable course would be to renounce your orders in this Church and seek a home elsewhere."

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