A third conservative Southern California parish broke its affiliation from the national Episcopal Church and linked itself with an Anglican diocese in Uganda.
Tuesday's decision by St. David's Episcopal Church in North Hollywood to leave the 2.3-million-member national church came just a week after two other parishes - All Saints' in Long Beach and St. James in Newport Beach - took similar steps.
Six of the 147 parishes in the Los Angeles diocese have joined the conservative American Anglican Council, further challenging the authority of the bishop of Los Angeles.
Leaders of the three churches said the Episcopal Church has been drifting away from its conservative values for the past three decades. Most recently, the church's national convention confirmed an openly gay man.
Father Jose Poch, rector of St. David's in North Hollywood, said he expected other conservative parishes in California to also secede.
An estimated 10 parishes have left the national church in the last year, according to Bob Williams, a spokesman for the church. There are 7,300 parishes in the United States.
All three seceding parishes have placed themselves under the jurisdiction of Anglican Bishop Evans Kisekka of the Diocese of Luweero in Uganda. The breakaway clergy and parishes said they remained in the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch, but were no longer Episcopalians.