US:Two of the largest and most historic Episcopal congregations in the US - both in Fairfax, Virginia - will vote next week on whether to leave the US church on ideological grounds and affiliate instead with a controversial Nigerian archbishop.
The decision could lead to a bitter court battle and the loss of $25 million (€18.7 million) in property. Many members of the Falls Church and Truro Church, as well as some conservative leaders around the country, hope a split will establish a legal structure that would make it easier for more like-minded congregations to leave the national denomination. Some conservatives in the Episcopal Church, the US wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, believe the church abandoned scripture by installing a gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003, among other things. Those feelings of alienation were strengthened when Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori - who supports the New Hampshire bishop - was elected this summer to lead the national church.
Three other churches in the 193-congregation Virginia diocese - the nation's largest - are also voting this month.
While some orthodox congregations have been leaving since 2003, advocates believe they are getting closer to creating a new, US-based umbrella organisation that would compete with the 226-year-old Episcopal Church.
If the votes at the Falls Church and Truro succeed, as their leaders predict, the 3,000 active members of the two churches would join a new, Fairfax-based organisation that answers to Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of the 17 million member Nigerian church and an advocate of jailing gays. The new group hopes to become a US-based denomination for orthodox Episcopalians.