Jay LaPrete, Associated Press The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, of Nevada, the newly elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, speaks to the House of Deputies after her confirmation vote yesterday in Columbus, Ohio. Click photo for larger image.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Episcopal Church yesterday elected the first female archbishop in the Anglican Communion's 500-year history, the Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, but debates throughout the rest of the day showed it would take more than new leadership to heal dissension over the issues of gay clergy ordination and same-sex blessings.

While the new presiding bishop said in a news conference following her election that reconciliation within the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion would be her focus, comments yesterday from others were a clear sign that the possibility of schism remained very real.

"I think she's going to bring into sharp relief the differences of being an Episcopalian and being an Anglican," said the Rev. Martyn Minns, a spokesman for the American Anglican Council, a network of bishops, priests and laity that affirms biblical authority and Christian orthodoxy in the church.

"And I can't see how she can do anything other than lead the Episcopal Church in walking apart from the rest of the communion. She has my prayers."

The historic election of Bishop Jefferts Schori on the fifth ballot from among seven candidates by the church's bishops, who met in closed session, dominated the sixth day of the nine-day triennial convention. She was approved overwhelmingly in the House of Deputies by both its laity and clergy members. Her election comes 30 years after the Episcopal Church first agreed to ordain women.

Yesterday's election is certain to further muddy the American church's relations with the rest of the communion, in which some provinces do not ordain women.

Bishop Jefferts Schori, of the 6,000-member Diocese of Nevada, will take over in November from the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, whose nine-year term expires.

She has a reputation as a conciliator with the ability to bring disparate sides together on difficult issues.

"I am awed and honored and deeply privileged to have been elected," Bishop Jefferts Schori said. "I think this is a grand adventure."

The presiding bishop, one of the 38 leaders of the Anglican Communion, which is led by the archbishop of Canterbury, is the chief spokesperson for the Episcopal Church.

It has been years since the denomination has spoken with a unified voice.

Bishop Jefferts Schori, 51, inherits a church struggling to find peace not only within its own borders but with the worldwide church as well.

"The election of the 26th presiding bishop is a stunning development," said Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr., moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.

The network, which has positioned itself as the home for biblically conservative Episcopalians, was formed after the confirmation of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson at the 2003 General Convention. It includes 10 dioceses and some 900 parishes -- about 12 percent of the church's 7,200 parishes.

"For the Anglican Communion worldwide, this election reveals the continuing insensitivity and disregard of the Episcopal Church for the present dynamics of our global fellowship," Bishop Duncan said. "Nevertheless, it remains our analysis that the decisive moment in contemporary Anglican history was the confirmation vote on the bishop of New Hampshire in August of 2003, the consequences of which continue to unfold."

Bishop Jefferts Schori, the first woman nominee for presiding bishop, voted for the confirmation of Bishop Robinson in 2003 but did not participate in his consecration the following year. She said yesterday that she favored local parishes having the option to conduct same-sex blessings. She has said that sexual orientation is "primarily a given characteristic, rather than one that is chosen."

Owner of a doctorate from Oregon State University -- her dissertation was on squids and octopi in the Pacific Northwest -- she was ordained a priest in 1994 and elected bishop of Nevada in 2001.

Leaders of the American Anglican Communion, or AAC, admitted yesterday that none of the seven candidates for presiding bishop met their standards.

"We are truly two churches under one roof," said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president of the AAC. "How long that can continue is certainly a subject for discussion."

Behind the scenes yesterday, a special legislative committee continued hammering out the language of two controversial resolutions that will form the crux of the Episcopal Church's response to questions raised by the worldwide church after the confirmation of Bishop Robinson.

Those questions, contained in the so-called Windsor Report that was issued by a special commission in 2004, called on the Episcopal Church to find ways "to maintain the highest degree of communion possible" among the autonomous national churches that represent more than 70 million Anglicans in 164 countries around the world.

In response, an Episcopal Church commission, of which Bishop Jefferts Schori was a member, released a report this spring called "One Baptism, One Hope in God's Call" that offered the 11 resolutions that are at the heart of this convention.

The most critical of those, known as A161 and A162, deal with the election of bishops and blessings for same-sex unions.

The 29-member special legislative committee, made up of bishops, priests and laity, has been painstakingly slow in developing the resolutions' language. The resolutions not only have to be acceptable to the bicameral houses of deputies and bishops at the General Convention, but also have to satisfy the broader Anglican Communion. The latter expects the American arm of the church to declare a moratorium on selecting partnered gay bishops and authorizing same-sex blessings.

The committee has fallen behind schedule in getting the resolutions to the houses for a vote. Yesterday, eight members formed a subcommittee that met for an extra two hours to expedite the work.

It's hoped that those resolutions will be brought before both houses today.

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Correction/Clarification: (Published June 20, 2006) This story as originally published on June 19, 2006 about the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada being elected to head the Episcopal Church incorrectly referred to her being an archbishop. As head of the church, she is presiding bishop. Also, the story incorrectly said that only two Anglican provinces worldwide ordain women clergy.