A gay bishop, and a revolt in some pews

On the day the Episcopal Church ordained a gay bishop in New Hampshire, Brenda and Doug Adams weren't in their regular pew at St. Thomas' Church.

Instead, they drove 90 minutes down the Maine coast to attend a non- Episcopal service in Portland. It's a trip they've repeated nearly every Sunday since the Rev. V. Gene Robinson's appointment as bishop was approved in August. "We just could not continue to support the Episcopal church," says Mrs. Adams.

Their quiet departure may not compare with the open insurrection brewing in many conservative dioceses around the country. Indeed, that any dissent is bubbling up in Maine may seem surprising at first glance. This is a state where residents are usually loath to make waves. It is also one of the most liberal Episcopal dioceses in the country, and the fifth to ordain a woman, Chilton Knudsen, as bishop.

But still, the ordination in neighboring New Hampshire has prompted some Maine faithful to withhold money or even plot group breakaways. Coming from where they are, these moves are some of the starkest signs yet of the deep schism threatening to tear the church apart.

"These fissures seem all but inevitable," says Leo Sandon, a professor of religion and American studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee. "You're talking about a kind of Anglo-Catholic faction within the Episcopal Church."

Many of the dissenters are of the older generation who say that Mr. Robinson's ordination was the last straw after three decades of grievances. First came changes in the liturgy and then the ordination of women priests.

That was enough to drive away, one by one, Mr. Adams's father and his six younger siblings. Robinson's ordination persuaded him and his mother to depart, too.

The decision wasn't easy for Mr. and Mrs. Adams, who began attending the church near Camden's sailboat-filled harbor after retiring to the area several years ago. Mr. Adams served as an usher and lay reader, though he tried staying out of church politics.

What finally pushed them out, Mrs. Adams says, was the decision by their priest, the Rev. Michael Rowe, not to address the controversy from the pulpit, relegating it to a more informal discussion after the service.

"This is too serious a subject to chat about over coffee," Mrs. Adams says.

Robinson's ordination also prompted Richard McLaughlin to leave St. Thomas for a Baptist church 90 minutes north in Bangor. He says his departure was inevitable after he was the lone dissenter in a church vote on ordaining Ms. Knudsen as bishop.

"We're there to worship God, not be social engineers," he says. "I wanted my children out before they were involved in false teachings." He particularly fears the impact the decision will have on the wider Anglican Church in Africa - a cause he continues to support financially.

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