"I have chosen to take the extraordinary step of writing to you in a pastoral letter because of the extreme nature of the decision these congregations and clergy have made and the implications it has on our life together, not only for the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., but for the worldwide Anglican Communion," he wrote.

The letter was laced with sentiments of betrayal and disappointment, as Bruno specified several failed attempts to talk with St. James' leaders after what he calleda "breach of trust and authority" and his belief that leaders had "abandoned the communion."

"No bishop outside the diocese has the jurisdiction to oversee ministry within that geographical diocese," Bruno wrote. "The fact that a bishop from another autonomous church within the Anglican Communion has chosen to exercise oversight in this diocese flies in the face of our ethos as Anglicans and of the Catholic unity of the church. It is a clear statement that the Diocese of Luwero and its bishop and the province of Uganda and its primate have broken with the established historic authority of the Anglican Communion."

St. James Rev. Praveen Bunyan didn't read the letter in any of the church's Sunday Masses because the church no longer considers itself Episcopal and can now act independently of the order, he said.

"He's not my bishop, why would I read it?" Bunyan said. "I've got better things to do."

Instead, he told his congregation he'd make himself available to address their questions and concerns both after the Mass and in a 7 p.m. members-only meeting tonight. The congregation had voted overwhelmingly in favor of secession last week.

"I cannot speak for [Bruno]," Bunyan said. "He mentioned breaking a covenant. Two parties make a covenant. Our basic foundations are one, that Jesus Christ is lord and savior, and that is the teaching of the church. And two, the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the authority for us. On those two counts, the Episcopal Church is drifting away."

Sunday Mass began as usual, but after parishioners gave one another their peace offerings, Bunyan addressed them with his thoughts on the secession. He told people at three services that they should refrain from gossip, triangulation and any condemnation or judgmental words because he wanted to continue the church's pillars of love and respect for all people. The supportive and attentive 11 a.m. congregation acknowledged him with cheers and applause.

Churchgoer Christie Russell of Brea said the Sunday Mass wasn't much different from others she'd attended at St. James.

"It was glorious," Russell said. "We always have great teaching, and there wasn't anything different except for the fact that now we're under the bishop of Luwero. I always come here looking forward to worship."

Bunyan said he felt the church needed to act quickly because he felt the Episcopal Church was becoming so ambiguous that it was on the verge of becoming "the world's largest Universalist Church."

For guidance, he said he'd turned last month to Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, a friend he'd seen enthroned on Jan. 25 to Uganda's highest religious position.

"The parish had been asking me for a long time, 'Why are we still affiliated with the Episcopal Church?'" he said. "I told them we wanted to be under a bishop because it's a tradition that we'd received for centuries. But those core values had deteriorated, and we waited for an opening we could find and a bishop who would receive us under authority. Archbishop Orombi and I had been associated for a long time, and we're theologically in the same place."

• JEFF BENSON is the news assistant