Pozzuto said, "Concerning the vote, Christ Church is unanimous to go with Bishop Duncan in the realignment. That's a wonderful thing. Many churches in the diocese are split. This is terribly difficult for some churches. It's not difficult for us. We know where we stand."

Duncan has been a leader among those who believe the Episcopal Church no longer upholds classic Christian doctrines. They opposed the Episcopal Church's 2003 decision to elect and consecrate the Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, an openly gay man, as a bishop and offer services for same-sex marriage.

Both St. Peter's Church and Christ Church were opposed to the decisions made by the Episcopal Church and supported Duncan. In fact, both these churches decided to drop the word "Episcopal" from common use of their names to distance themselves from the national Episcopal Church. St. Peter's Church says it is "a parish of the Anglican Communion" after its name while Christ Church uses the word Anglican after its name. Both are identifying themselves with the Anglican Communion, which is the name of the international church, which has 75 million members worldwide.

After the U.S. bishops voted recently to depose the Pittsburgh bishop, several officials of the Anglican Church around the world offered their support to Duncan, including Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone. Cruikshank explained the Southern Cone includes the South American countries of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

In a joint statement, Venables, along with Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the Province of the West Indies and Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Province of Kenya, said they were grieved at the action and noted they "consider it to be invalid."

Locally, Pozzuto said of the deposition, "It's a travesty. It wasn't done within the canonical guidelines of our denomination. He was supposed to have a trial. He was presented with charges and found guilty. He had no ability to plead his case. This is not the way the Episcopal Church has dealt with matters of ecclesiastical discipline."

On Saturday, Pozzuto and Cruikshank, along with two lay members from each of their congregations, will travel to the diocesan convention to vote for realignment.

Talking about Saturday's vote, Pozzuto said, "There's cause for concern that what we do with our votes will lead to lawsuits that come back on the parish. But it's not the biggest of our concerns. The biggest is to stand with the bishop in his faithfulness for our Christian heritage."

Cruikshank said, "For those of us who are lifelong Episcopalians, the history goes back years and years. We really do see it as a departure from the faith and we desire to remain faithful along with many millions of other Anglicans worldwide of the faith. That's what Bishop Duncan is permitting us to be able to do."

He added, "We are very thankful that we have Bishop Duncan. While it hurts to leave a Church that's been part of you for so long, it's very clear we no longer believe the same things about core essential doctrine, such as who is Jesus Christ? It comes down to a difference of is he 'a' pathway to God or 'the' pathway to God?"

Duncan is well known to members of the local churches. He visits them annually. Cruikshank noted that since he became rector of St. Peter's in December, Duncan has made three visits to the church. Pozzuto became rector in August and Duncan has not yet visited Christ Church since then, but the rector said Duncan comes every year and that assistant bishop Henry Scriven married one couple who are members of Christ Church.

"He does a wonderful job getting around to all the congregations despite his busy schedule," said Cruikshank.

And what will happen after Saturday's vote?

On Sunday, Cruikshank and two members of St. Peter's are traveling to Thailand at the invitation of Archbishop John Chew of Singapore to discuss mission opportunities in Southeast Asia. They will return Oct. 14.

Cruikshank said, "It's clear that while we'll no longer be part of the Episcopal Church, we will still be a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion."

And Pozzuto said of Christ Church, "Next Sunday, church here is going to be the same."

END