The meeting opens at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Sheraton Ballroom with a service led by Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung of Malaysia.

Church growth and mission work are the main topics of seminars Thursday through Saturday, said the Rev. John Richardson, host priest and the rector of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Mountain Brook. St. Peter's formed after a split from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in 2002.

--

The remaining five -- All Souls and Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville, Grace Church in Orange Park, St. Michael's in Gainesville and St. Luke's Community of Life in Gainesville -- formally ended their relationship with Bishop John Howard's diocese on Dec. 31 or will do so by Sunday, said the Rev. Sam Pascoe, rector at Grace Church.

Pascoe said more parishes are on their way to "disassociating" with the diocese and the denomination.

Murphy's recent and familial roots run deep through a Florida landscape that, until November, housed not only his flourishing congregation, but wife and daughter. So deep, he never expected to fully answer a call from the New Bern church looking for his powerful leadership and conservative commitment to teaching scripture. Emmanuel Anglican Church would not be his to lead, he thought.

He went on to tell Campbell that human freedom "can never be realized independently of God but only in cooperation with his loving plan for humanity."

Britain's civil partnership law took effect last week.

Civil partnerships give same-sex couples an opportunity to register their relationships and receive most of the same benefits accorded married couples including pension, immigration, and property rights.