At a convention that begins today in Minneapolis, the Episcopal Church USA will jump feet first into debates that could irrevocably alter its relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Already, the weeks leading up to the confirmation vote Sunday afternoon of the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop-elect have further divided the deeply polarized liberal and conservative elements of the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church.

An expected vote early next week on liturgical rites blessings for same-sex unions is likely to make that divide even starker.

The Episcopal Church makes up just 3 percent of the total Anglican Communion. But African and Asian archbishops and bishops representing more than half of the communion's 75 million members have warned that "yes" decisions on those two issues "would shatter the church."

The last time there was such a ruckus was in 1976, when the General Convention, which is held every three years and has final authority in matters of policy and doctrine, also was held in Minneapolis. After bitter debate, the Episcopal Church became the first member of the larger Anglican church to ordain women and grant them access to spiritual leadership positions.

In the eye of the current storm is the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who on June 7 became the first openly gay man in the Episcopal Church to be elected a bishop.

Robinson, who has served in various clergy positions in New Hampshire since 1975, was elected from among four nominees. Formerly married with two daughters, Robinson has said that he "answered God's call to acknowledge myself as a gay man" and he and his wife released each other from their marriage vows. Since 1990, he has lived with his partner near Concord.

"The reason I was elected had nothing to do with my [sexual] orientation," Robinson said in an interview with the Episcopal News Service soon after his election. "For many people it was probably in spite of it. It was more due to the relationships that I've built with them."

No one is venturing guesses as to whether Robinson will be confirmed.

In an ironic twist, a "state of the clergy" report released last week by the Episcopal Church shows that Episcopalians consider the debate over homosexuality far less important than conflicts about leadership in their local churches and the everyday operation of their parishes.

"For one reason or another," said the Rev. Michael Hopkins, president of the lesbian and gay Episcopal group Integrity, "folks who call themselves conservatives in the Episcopal Church have latched onto this issue as a defining issue.

"As a gay and as a priest, I do not believe it is. Should [Robinson] not be confirmed, sexuality issues are not going to go away. I've said time and time again, 'We're not going anywhere.' "

Two Episcopal Church officials from Pittsburgh will play key roles in Minneapolis.

The Rev. George Werner, retired dean of Downtown's Trinity Cathedral, is president of the convention's House of Deputies, where the initial debate and vote on Robinson and same-sex blessings will take place.

And Bishop Robert Duncan of the Pittsburgh Diocese serves as first vice president of the American Anglican Council, a network of parishes, ministries and bishops that has been in the forefront of opposition to Robinson's confirmation.

In a statement issued in early June, Duncan called Robinson's election "a wound to Christians everywhere."

"Whether this election will prove a mortal wound to the Episcopal Church is a determination that cannot now be made," the statement continued, "but this revolutionary decision most assuredly has that possibility."

Duncan said in an interview that the core issue for him is that Robinson's election -- generally as a homosexual and specifically as a bishop -- is contrary to the present teachings and historic practice of the Episcopal Church.

"The Scripture, in every reference to homosexual behavior, condemns it, and not just the Old Testament but the New Testament," Duncan said.

"The church is responsible for teaching the truth. We will cease to be teaching the truth as the Anglican Communion, at least in that area" if Robinson's election is confirmed.

Duncan predicted Robinson's confirmation would precipitate a "chaotic" 18-month period in the Episcopal Church, with some dioceses withdrawing from the church and others facing "financial collapse" as significant givers withhold donations.

For several years, dissident congregations in several states, including Pennsylvania, have either broken ties with the Episcopal Church or sought alternative oversight from conservative bishops in dioceses overseas, primarily over sexuality issues.

A similarly potential move could occur in Sewickley. Earlier this summer, the Rev. Geoff Chapman wrote to members of St. Stephen Episcopal Church that if Robinson's election were confirmed he would work with "your vestry and others within this diocese, in partnership with many in the Episcopal Church and with our overseas partner Archbishops to help launch a process of realignment in our Communion that will reaffirm the Biblical faith and mission that have been our passion."

The Pittsburgh diocese, however, will remain within the Episcopal Church, Duncan said, while he "continues to lead the people here in an orthodox Anglican way."

Earlier this month in Virginia, an unprecedented gathering of Anglican archbishops from Africa and Asia, along with more than two dozen Episcopal bishops, signed a statement declaring that "the proposed actions will precipitate a dramatic realignment of the Church. Should these events occur, the majority of the Primates anticipate convening an extraordinary meeting at which they too will respond to the actions of [the] General Convention."

The archbishops have declined further explanations.

What has been unusual about the African and Asian leaders throughout the debate over Robinson and same-sex blessings is their outspokenness. In the past, they refrained from such judgments, primarily because of the more than $4 million they receive annually from the Episcopal Church and individual dioceses and parishes for pastoral, educational and medical needs.

But in June, after the appointment of an openly gay priest as bishop, or see, in England, several African Anglican leaders, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who heads the communion's largest church with 17 million members, publicly denounced it.

Within weeks, the priest withdrew his candidacy and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams expressed both regret and relief, saying that estrangement within the communion "would impoverish us as a Church in every way."