"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.

We did not take up an offering, but I placed two offering plates at the back of the church for anyone who wanted to contribute to help either family. The press got hold of it, and the news reached all over the world. I received a letter from someone in India who appreciated the witness for compassion and reaching out.

"The denomination has been going downhill for more than 30 years, but the Robinson consecration was a major blow. Someone turned the water spigot off and we went dry. People began to leave. Every bit of news coming out of the TEC was discouraging. We were also stuck in a 2,500 square foot building with no room for growth.

A number of VOL readers who asked not to be named, said that both sides traded accusations and insults about the inadequacy of the national church's response to the Windsor Report, with liberals asking conservative stalwarts like the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, Senior Fellow of the Anglican Communion Institute and a parish priest in Pueblo, and the Rev. Don Armstrong, rector of Grace & St.