The US Episcopal Church (ECUSA) is being threatened with widening divisions, Saturday 2 December, after a California diocese voted on a measure which could see a break from the leadership of controversial newly-elected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

|PIC1|The split, centred around the Episcopal Church's acceptance of homosexuality, comes as clergy and lay representatives at the annual convention of the 10,000-member Diocese of San Joaquin voted 176-28 in favour of a split.

Rev Van McCalister, a spokesman for the diocese, announced the result of the vote, which represents 48 parishes in central California's San Joaquin Valley.

If the measure passes again in 2007, it would allow for the development of a new church that officials say would break from the leadership of the new head of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, while remaining part of the worldwide Anglican Church.

The historic vote is the first time since the American Civil War that an entire diocese has voted to distance itself from the core Church, although individual parishes have already voted to leave the Church over recent turbulent years.

The split is based on the fact that new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, Jefferts Schori, 52, condones the blessings of gay relationships and has supported the Church's 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire - something which goes against traditional beliefs in the Anglican Church.

Many commentators have rebuked the Church's decision to elect Jefferts Schori as its new head, and have taken it to be a defining moment in a now seemingly inevitable split of the Anglican Church.

McCalister said, "Homosexuality is just one symptom of how the church has lowered its view. The key issue, however, is the ecclesiastical structure that recognises the authority of the Bible, as it has for about two millennium. We're not bringing in anything new."

The landmark vote was made on a measure, an amendment to the diocese's constitution, which seeks to "maintain solidarity with the rest of the Anglican Communion".

In addition, other Episcopal bishops have asked for placement under the jurisdiction of more orthodox overseas leaders, to avoid the divisive leadership of Jefferts Schori.

Rev John Riebe of All Saints Episcopal Church in Bakersfield, who voted with the majority, said, "A congregation is judged according to its faithfulness and what it stands for."

Bishop John-David Schofield said, "The Episcopal Church walks apart from the Anglican Communion, but accuses us of leaving the Church."

Last month, Jefferts Schori fuelled the debate when she said Schofield would violate his vows if he led his diocese away from her leadership, and controversially suggested he "seek a home elsewhere," Reuters has said.

Schofield responded, saying, "At a diocesan level, the choice is between continuing membership in an unrepentant, apostate institution or following Holy Scripture."