Citing same-sex unions as "a new reality, a sacred union" in a presentation yesterday before a key Anglican Communion council, the U.S. Episcopal Church defended its 2004 decision to ordain a noncelibate gay bishop, keeping itself on a collision course for a possible split with the worldwide church.

The six-member group representing the Episcopal Church argued that eligibility to lead the church is given to "those who can bear authentic witness to Christ."

"[The Episcopal Church] has learned that human identity is not to be fought over by looking at proof texts and fighting over them," said the Rev. Michael Battle, a professor at Virginia Theological Seminary and one of the authors of an accompanying 130-page document explaining the theological underpinnings of last year's ordination of the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

The leaders of the Anglican Communion in February rebuked the American and Canadian churches -- the latter for allowing a diocese to conduct same-sex blessings -- and asked them to "voluntarily withdraw" from this month's triennial meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, which advises church leaders.

The more than 70 million-member communion's official policy is that gay sex is "incompatible with Scripture."

Despite the reproach, both North American churches were invited to make presentations explaining their actions.

The 130-page report "To Set Our Hope on Christ," set the tone for the Episcopal Church's presentation.

"What makes leaders fit to serve the whole Church of God is the universality of Christ's mission -- and a minister's fidelity to Christ's way of serving that mission," the document stated. "This is the foundational quality that reaches across every human boundary."

The Episcopal Church team included three bishops, a theology professor, a gay woman and the mother of a gay son. The American church's leader, the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, also addressed the council, acknowledging that the ordination of Robinson had "distressed many of them."

Both the document and the Episcopal team members focused on the Episcopal Church's tradition of dissent. Team members' comments were posted almost simultaneously on the Internet yesterday by the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, who attended the council proceedings.

The American team's 90-minute presentation included both personal and philosophical pleadings.

"We need healing not of our sexual orientation but our theological orientation," said Susan Russell, president of Integrity, the Episcopal Church's advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered members.

"The values we are promoting are monogamy and faithfulness and integrity."

Bishop Suffragen Cathy Roskam of New York said the struggles over same-sex unions seemed "a huge concern for some men in our communion," adding that women were a majority in the church.

"Why are we talking about splitting our communion over an issue that concerns such a small minority?" she asked. "Where is the same heat over world poverty, which has an overwhelmingly feminine face? The issue of AIDS?"

A spokeswoman for a conservative Episcopal group, the American Anglican Council, dismissed the Episcopal Church's presentation as "revisionist theology."

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, leader of the Anglican Church of Canada, sent a letter to the meeting expressing regret that his church's actions led to a rift in the world church.

"We have not always consulted with our brothers and sisters around the Anglican Communion, and we deeply regret that the bonds of our mutual affection have been strained," the letter read.

The council meeting runs until June 28.