A resolution passed overwhelmingly yesterday at the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh's annual convention was called a plea for unity by conservatives who voted in favor of it, but an "implicit threat to walk away" from the national church by others.

The resolution reaffirmed the 20,000-member diocese's intent to align with those portions of the worldwide Anglican Communion that have opposed the ordination of openly gay clergy and the conducting of same-sex blessings, "whatever the costs or actions required to do so."

Though those costs and actions were not detailed by the resolution's language, the Rev. Dr. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary Church in Shadyside, called the vote "an implicit threat to walk away" from the Episcopal Church.

The resolution was an 11th-hour substitution of one that convention deputies had originally been given. The original resolution urged the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church to accept the existing policies of the more than 70-million-member Anglican Communion, of which it is the American arm.

The newer resolution's language was more strident, opponents said. The Rev. Lewis and others also decried the new resolution's "lack of specificity" and moved that an earlier version of the resolution be considered instead. That motion was defeated and a roll-call vote was done on the new version.

Diocesan clergy deputies approved the resolution 85-12, with nine abstentions. Laity deputies approved it 118-45, with six abstentions.

Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. said the resolution was "a heartfelt plea to our General Convention to listen to what the whole [Anglican] Communion says."

At the center of the debate is the 2004 consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire and the same-sex blessings conducted by some dioceses in the U.S. and Canada.

Yesterday's resolution declared that at its 2006 triennial General Convention the Episcopal Church must "accept unreservedly" several church documents that prohibit the ordination of gay clergy and same-sex blessings. Otherwise, the resolution continues, the Pittsburgh diocese "will stand with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the 'Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church' whatever the costs or actions required to do so."

The convention continues for a second day at Trinity Cathedral, Downtown.