"For the sake of these consciences, it seems to me the wiser course to be prayerfully absent," he said.

Steenson, a traditionalist bishop who does not believe in the ordination of women, and is opposed to the church's homosexual agenda, said there were serious questions as to her ability as Presiding Bishop to serve as an instrument of unity in the wider Anglican Communion.

The bishop also had his eye on what the Primates Meeting in February 2007 in Tanzania will do to The Episcopal Church and their promise of a new structure to take care of eight dioceses that are seeking alternative primatial oversight.

"This could have serious consequences and we pray with our new Presiding Bishop for the grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions," Steenson cried.

"Do not act hastily or disproportionately but allow the Communion's Instruments of Unity to find an orderly resolution. Local churches should not be in the business of creating new ecclesial structures," hew said.

Acknowledging the lethargy that had swept over the church, Steenson pleaded with delegates to put their hands to the plow and "get back to work!"

Steenson acknowledged that the St. John's Cathedral (a pro-gay stronghold) was "recovering" and was searching for a new Dean. He acknowledged the positive presence of the Very Rev. Gary Kriss as interim Dean. The bishop said that an informal study was underway to see whether diocesan offices could move downtown to a site adjacent to the Cathedral.

Acknowledging the financial drain of Camp Stoney by some $1.4 million, he urged delegates not to close it, but to be a place "to bring young people to Christ."

Drawing parallels from Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn who said that the West had sold its great cultural heritage for a bowl of porridge, that its materialism was all-encompassing, and in its present state of spiritual exhaustion had little to offer the rest of the world, Steenson said, The Episcopal Church finds itself in a similar situation with respect to the wider Anglican Communion. "Episcopalians are stunned by the response of so many in the Communion to the last two General Conventions, which, we have been assured, are completely in accord with a reasonable and responsible reading of the Gospel. Why then would people of good will everywhere not want to applaud and embrace the Episcopal Church?"

The bishop said the Episcopal Church was in a "place of self-deception that Solzhenitsyn warned about: telling ourselves that our achievements should be self evident and above criticism and that there is something wrong with those who fail to appreciate our greatness!"

"The Anglican Communion is undergoing a remarkable transformation, and I cannot help but think that so many of the attitudes and behaviors we take for granted in the American context will not be welcomed in the new communion discipline."

Steenson blasted what he called the Episcopal Church's reflection of itself as "America's cultural elite at prayer." This doesn't always sit well with the rest of our Anglican Communion family, he said.

Recognizing that he is walking a tightrope, Steenson told delegates, "I am not repudiating the Episcopal Church which I have served almost all of my ordained life in it, and I hold my ordination vows with the utmost seriousness. But my vow is to a church which is constitutionally pledged to be a constituent part of the Anglican Communion, in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury as our focus of unity. In this sense, I am an Anglican first and an Episcopalian second, not in the sense of either/or, nor of both/and, but of one because of the other."

The diocese passed resolution demanding compliance with requests made in paragraph 134 and paragraph 144 of the Windsor Report by denying consent to the consecration of any bishop who lives in a same-gender relationship and the development of public rites to bless same-gender relationships, thus repudiating the consecration of V. Gene Robinson.

The diocese voted to hold a special diocesan convention, if needed, to respond to developments in the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion following the meeting of Primates next year.

They also passed a resolution requiring that clergy, postulants, candidates for ordination, and ordinands must abstain from sexual relations outside of marriage.

Steenson was a signatory to the Camp Allen accord last month where some two dozen diocesan bishops came together to declare that they will not walk apart from the rest of the Communion.

"To identify with the Windsor process and to differentiate from General Convention may lead to consequences yet unseen, but we do not want to break relationships with anyone who bears the name Christian."

A controversial resolution aimed at providing a process for negotiating the sale of church property to groups wishing to leave the diocese, within the bounds set by diocesan and national canons, failed. A proposal to cease the funding and sending of deputies to General Convention was also defeated, as was one asking Jefferts Schori to embrace the recommendations of the Windsor Report and inviting her to the diocese for dialogue.

END