Area Diocese Rejects New Bishop
By Cary McMullen
Ledger Religion Editor

LAKELAND -- Leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, which includes parishes in Polk County, have rejected the authority of the newly elected presiding bishop of the denomination, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The local Episcopal leaders may be poised to join a developing rift in the 2.3 million-member denomination.

At a meeting Thursday, Bishop John Howe, the diocese's administrative board and its standing committee, which offers advice and consent to the bishop, approved an open letter to the diocese repudiating several actions of the church's recent General Convention in Columbus, Ohio.

Besides the election of Schori, the diocesan leaders lamented a failure to agree to moratoria on the consecration of gays as bishops and on the blessing of samesex unions.
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