WASHINGTON -- After a year in which divisions among the Catholic bishops of the United States were more visible than they had ever been, the surprise election of Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie to a key post suggests that most bishops are not prepared to follow the more conservative forces on sensitive church issues.

In a polite coup of sorts, Trautman -- known for challenging Vatican officials on behalf of gender-inclusive language in the liturgy -- was nominated from the floor to chair the bishops committee on liturgy. He defeated Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who had been championed by those who believe the bishops play too fast and loose with holy language. The bishops have never advocated gender-inclusive terms for the persons of the Trinity, but many prefer to replace male pronouns for humanity with "one" "those" or "brothers and sisters."

Both Rigali and the other committee nominee, Bishop Allen Vigneron of Oakland, Calif., are regarded as acceptably conservative by lay Catholic groups that oppose idiomatic English and gender-inclusive language in the liturgy. Several years ago, the Vatican officially sided with those groups, declaring that the liturgy should be translated literally from Latin, even when the result sounds archaic.

Trautman's nomination from the floor was only the second in over 25 years, according to longtime observers of the conference. He had been chair of the same committee several years ago when battles over liturgical translation were at their height. Trautman had publicly accused Vatican officials of micromanaging with actions such as changing "lecturn" to "ambo" in reference to church furniture.

On the second ballot, Trautman won with 127 votes versus 105 for Rigali and seven for Vigneron.

Some bishops said privately that Trautman's victory was less about a desire to revisit old battles than a desire to have a choice in perspective between two candidates.

Trautman attributed the vote to his past experience.

"They know I always try to steer a middle course in presenting matters of liturgy to the church," he said.

While he must follow the Vatican document advocating faithfulness to the Latin, it leaves room for interpretation, Trautman said.

Conference elections are not always ideological. Sometimes the bishops choose one candidate over another because he is known to be a better administrator or team player.

Often bishops are chosen for expertise, as when Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh was chosen yesterday by 70 percent of the bishops to chair their committee on catechetics. Wuerl is co-author of a popular adult catechism.

The topics the bishops chose as most pressing for a special meeting they may hold in 2006 were evangelization, lay participation in the sacraments, the spiritual lives of priests and the need to increase vocations.