Roseberry has been a leader of efforts to uphold what he and others call "Anglican orthodoxy" in the wake of the consecration of openly gay bishop and Lexington native Gene Robinson in 2003.

Robinson's ordination has created strife throughout the Anglican church worldwide, leading to concerns, such as Roseberry's, that a split between the U.S. church and the rest of Anglicanism could be on the horizon.

The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada were asked not to send representatives to a major policy meeting in England in June.

The U.S. church has decided to send representatives to explain the church's stance on homosexuality, but they will not be voting participants.

A growing number of clergy and lay people are joining independent organizations that want to mend the rift, or at least maintain their own relationship with worldwide Anglicanism separate from the Episcopal Church.

One such organization is the Kentucky chapter of the American Anglican Council, which sponsored Roseberry's visit and an accompanying panel discussion last night. It was formed a year ago and has a mailing list of 700.

The group's mission is to "restore Kentucky Anglicans to full participation in the Anglican Communion."

It includes people who belong to churches that are still a part of the Episcopal Church, as well as people who attend churches that have broken away.

"There are a lot of us who have been with the Episcopal Church for a long time," said Mike Burke, who recently began attending St. Pat-rick's Anglican Church in Lexington.

"The frustrating thing for a lot of us is that we feel like we're not being listened to."

Although the group's leadership is from Louisville, about two-thirds of the American Anglican Council of Kentucky's membership comes from the area encompassed by the Diocese of Lexington, said Betty-Lee Payne, who co-chairs the chapter.

"There's been a lot of heartache in this area," Payne said. "They tell us we're the largest chapter in the nation."

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