Conservative Episcopalians called on the church's global leadership Thursday to sanction the US bishops who backed the election of a gay bishop and blessings for same-sex unions earlier this year.
In a strongly-worded call to action, the conservatives appealed to the primates of the Anglican Communion to discipline the bishops "who, by their actions, have departed the biblical faith and order."
They also called on them to step in and "guide the re-alignment of Anglicanism in North America," at the end of a three-day meeting called by disaffected members of the denomination to plot their strategy.
"We want the leadership severely sanctioned or disciplined," said Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. "The church needs to know that they have erred and strayed."
The nearly 2,700 participants who attended the Dallas meeting said they plan to redirect their finances away from church institutions that support same-sex relationships.
And, perhaps most boldly of all, they called on the leadership of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church USA to repent.
The statement approved Thursday does not call for the creation of a parallel church for conservatives, an idea that was floated earlier in the week. Organizers said they didn't want to dictate the terms of the intervention they're seeking.
"Many people on the outside expected us to announce that we are leaving the Episcopal Church," said the Rev. David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, the sponsor of the Dallas gathering. "We are not leaving. The Episcopal Church has left us."
The showdown was ignited two months ago in Minneapolis, where the General Convention, the legislative body of the Episcopal Church, voted to recognize same-sex unions. It also confirmed the election of the Reverend Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as the next bishop of New Hampshire.
The archbishop of Canterbury has summoned the 38 leaders, or primates, of the Anglican Communion to an emergency summit next week to address the conflict.
The outcome will probably determine whether the Episcopal Church will splinter.
A delegation that includes the Reverend David Roseberry of Christ Church Episcopal in Plano, Texas, will head to England to present to some of the primates the seven-point "call to action" statement signed by Thursday's participants.
"We've been called to this moment," Roseberry said. "It's an amazing, amazing time."