A conservative priest at the center of a schism between Pennsylvania Episcopalians over same-sex unions and the ordination of women has been transferred by a Pittsburgh bishop to a diocese in Africa.
The appointment is a largely symbolic move for the Rev. David Moyer, a conservative who has challenged the church hierarchy and in September was stripped of his ministry at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, a Philadelphia suburb.
Moyer never moved to Pittsburgh after he was made a priest in the diocese in September, and continues to live in a church residence in Rosemont, where he had preached for 13 years.
The transfer is the latest maneuver in a war of words between Moyer and Bishop Charles E. Bennison, the head of the four-county Episcopal diocese of Pennsylvania.
As the president of the North American chapter of the conservative Forward in Faith movement, Moyer has argued that the sect has moved too far from the teachings of its parent church, the 77-million member Anglican Communion.
This summer the dispute took on the makings of a schism when Forward in Faith nominated Moyer to be consecrated as a bishop and lead a group of conservative congregations that didn't want to ordain women as priests.
Moyer also refused to allow Bennison, a liberal, and two of his predecessors to make formal visitations to the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Bennison responded by having Moyer defrocked and banning him from public ministry.
Since then, Moyer has defiantly continued to preach and hold mass. Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan joined the fray by accepting Moyer as a priest in the Pittsburgh diocese a day after his ouster, saying he wanted to spur controversy and a discussion of the church's teachings.
But in a Dec. 16 letter, Duncan essentially reversed that invitation by transferring Moyer to the diocese in Central Africa. Duncan said he was making the move to try and extract himself from the feud between Moyer and Bennison.
"Father Moyer is still welcome to function in Pittsburgh," Duncan said in a newspaper interview. "He's just no longer canonically under me."
Moyer has challenged Bennison's deposition order in court with a lawsuit accusing the bishop of fraud, misrepresentation, collusion and denial of due process.
Bennison, Duncan and Moyer did not return phone calls for comment to The Associated Press on Sunday.