In what the Episcopal Church called a troubling move, six congregations took a stand against the appointment of an openly gay bishop by participating in a confirmation service with conservative bishops who did not have permission from the Diocese of Ohio.
About 800 churchgoers wildly cheered for six bishops who traveled from as far as Brazil to lead the 2 1/2 hour service on Sunday.
"I hope it will begin the purification of the church in America," said Charles Rankin, 52, one of 110 people who participated.
The service was performed without the permission of Bishop J. Clark Grew II of Cleveland, who heads the diocese and voted to elevate the church's first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Under Episcopal law and liturgy, confirmations are performed only by local bishops or visiting bishops approved by the head of the host diocese. Confirmations represent a mature public affirmation of a member's faith.
"This business against the diocesan bishop is simply defiant and that's why it's troubling," said Daniel England, a church spokesman. "It violates our constitution and canons."
A message seeking comment was left for Grew on Sunday.
As the rift over gay clergy has deepened in the Episcopal Church, a key issue has been what to do about conservative parishes within dioceses whose bishops supported Robinson.
Conservatives are demanding substitute leadership from outside their dioceses, bypassing their regular resident bishops, and say bishops have rarely provided that.
The issue of oversight will top the agenda when the nation's Episcopal bishops meet behind closed doors at Navasota, Texas, starting Friday.
Sunday's confirmations, performed in an Eastern Orthodox church in suburban Akron, were conducted by five retired Episcopal bishops and one bishop from the international diocese.
"This is an emergency measure we took responding to the controversial actions of last summer," said retired Texas Bishop the Rev. Maurice Benitez, referring to Robinson's appointment.
Joining Benitez were C. FitzSimmons Allison, retired bishop of South Carolina; William Cox, retired assistant bishop of Oklahoma; Alex Dickson, retired bishop of west Tennessee; William Wantland, retired bishop of Eau Claire, Wis.; and the Rev. Robinson Cavalcanti, bishop of northern Brazil.
The presence of Cavalcanti underscored that in the international Anglican Communion, in which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch, most bishops strongly oppose gay activity. Many foreign Anglican churches have broken ties with the Episcopal Church.
"We are here to say we support the efforts of the faithful Episcopal Americans," Cavalcanti said. "We are not attacking anybody. We are defending the faith."
Last October, an emergency meeting of heads of the Anglican Communion's 38 branches jointly stated that bishops must respect the autonomy of each other's dioceses, warning in advance against events like Sunday's confirmations.
But that meeting also called upon the Episcopal Church to "make adequate provision for Episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities." In response, the head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, and his advisers proposed what they called "supplemental Episcopal pastoral care."
The American Anglican Council, a conservative group that played a role in organizing Sunday's confirmations, found that plan unacceptable because the local bishop would retain power to approve visiting bishops.
If the local bishop refused, a parish could appeal to other bishops, but conservatives say the process would remain in hostile hands and there's no guarantee parishes would get what they want.