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The head of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has been tapped to lead an emerging national network of parishes opposed to the denomination's recent consecration of an openly homosexual man as a bishop.

Bishop Robert Duncan will serve as "moderator and convening authority" of the newly formed Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes.

Episcopal Church leaders, meeting at their national convention in Minneapolis in August, approved the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson is divorced and living in a same-sex relationship.

Church leaders also voted to accept the fact that blessing services for same-sex unions are being conducted in some dioceses.

Duncan said the purpose of the network is "to speak the truth to the American people and the world that the Episcopal Church is telling a huge lie when it says God approves of what the church did this summer," Duncan said. "God does not approve."

Conservative church members believe that Scripture clearly prohibits sexual activity between members of the same gender and that sex is reserved for married men and women.

A draft of the organization's charter says the actions by the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have "torn the fabric" of the worldwide Anglican Communion and "violated the trust" with other Christian denominations.

Duncan, though, maintains the network's formation is not an attempt to initiate a formal split from the 2.3-million member Episcopal Church USA, which is the American branch of the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion.

"We're not leaving; we're not separating ourselves," Duncan said Wednesday. "From the beginning, we've said that we haven't changed at all. It is the Episcopal Church that has taken this giant leap out of bounds."

Local supporters of the Episcopal Church's decisions this summer, however, say that despite Duncan's contention that conservatives are not seeking a split, their actions indicate otherwise.

"Of course, they want a schism," said Lionel Deimel, president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, which claims between 100 and 150 members. "On one hand, they say the don't want to break apart, but then they say they cannot remain in communion with the church because of its decisions."

Duncan maintains that rather than seeking to split from the denomination, he and a dozen other orthodox church leaders are setting in motion a process by which they eventually might be recognized as the "authentic" Episcopal church in the United States.

"Our aim is to lead the church away from sin and put it on a path that will return it to the historical faith," Duncan said.

A split could be avoided if the coalition of conservative church members around the world can pressure the Episcopal Church to step back from the measures approved at the August convention.

Twenty of the 38 leaders, or primates, of the worldwide Anglican Communion already have indicated they will recognize the new network, Duncan said.

In addition to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, the newly formed network claims support from the dioceses of Albany, N.Y.; San Joaquin, Calif.; South Carolina; Florida; Central Florida; Southwest Florida; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Quincy, Ill.; Springfield, Ill.; Western Kansas; and Rio Grande, which includes parts of Texas and New Mexico.

Deimel, of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, contends that because no formal votes on whether to join the network were taken in those dioceses, they cannot be legitimately counted as network supporters.

"As far as we can tell, these dioceses have not signed onto this," Deimel said. "This is basically a group of conservative bishops doing their own thing. The level of support they have here, and in the dioceses that have supposedly signed on, is highly questionable."

Duncan said bishops, clergy and lay people from the dioceses who have aligned themselves with the network will meet at a convention Jan. 19-20 in Dallas to approve an organizational charter and a theological platform.

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