Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
	Gail Michaels of New York State joins in singing a hymn at Hope & A Future, a conference of the Anglican Communion Network, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The spiritual leaders of more than 32 million Anglicans told conservative Episcopalians gathered here yesterday that it was time to choose between remaining part of the "revisionist" U.S. church or joining their biblically faithful counterparts in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The seven archbishops from Africa, Asia and the West Indies, a geographic area known as the Global South, said refusal by the Episcopal Church at its triennial convention next year to bring itself in line theologically with the majority of Anglicans on the questions of same-sex blessings and gay clergy would be "simply unacceptable."

The archbishops, or primates, were in Pittsburgh for the "Hope and a Future" conference sponsored by Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. and the Anglican Communion Network. The network, whose membership is estimated at about 200,000 people, was formed in 2004 in response to the Episcopal Church's election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson. Bishop Duncan is the network's moderator.

During a panel yesterday on the realignment of global Anglicanism, the archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, told attendees that "time is no longer on their side."

"This is your ... moment to make up your mind," said the archbishop, whose province includes more than 18 million Anglicans. "Many have one leg in [the Episcopal Church] and one leg in the network.

"If you really want the Global South to partner with you, you must let us know exactly where you stand. Are you Episcopalian or are you network?"

Nearly all in the crowd of 2,400 roared their approval with a standing ovation. One who did not was Assistant Bishop Henry Scriven, of the Pittsburgh diocese.

"The problem is that [his comments] encourage [a] breakaway," Rev. Scriven said. "We need to be patient enough to see the Episcopal Church break itself away from the Anglican Communion."

Few at the conference, however, seemed interested in tempered responses.

In a DVD titled "Choose This Day" that was shown at the conference Thursday night, Les Fairfield, a professor of church history at Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry in Ambridge, said changes within the Episcopal Church had made it "a non-Christian religion" and its leadership had "embraced a foreign, alien and pagan religion."

The Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina, said in the video that conservatives are in a battle "for the soul of the Western church."

"It's a battle for the shape of Christianity in the whole world," he said. "That is not a minor thing."

At a news conference following the panel discussion, Archbishop Drexel W. Gomez, of the West Indies, said Global South primates had "worked too hard and for too long" not to take "some action" next year if the Episcopal Church does not change its current path. He declined to give specifics.

At least 10 provinces, including the seven archbishops who attended the "Hope and A Future" conference, and as many as 22 of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces, have either broken with or declared impaired relations with the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church over its consecration of Bishop Robinson.

The worldwide Anglican Communion includes more than 70 million members in 164 countries. Its official policy is that gay sex is "incompatible with Scripture."

Yesterday, the archbishops pledged to stand by conservatives in their struggles within the American church.

"We will stay with you as long as you remain faithful, biblical, evangelical and orthodox," said Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung, of South East Asia.