JOHNSTOWN -- Members of the Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese have voted overwhelmingly to break away from the denomination in the United States and align with an Anglican province in another country.

In today's vote at the 142nd diocesan convention, the laity approved the measure 118-58 with one abstention. The clergy vote was 109-24 in favor of breaking away.

For the break to occur, the diocese must pass the same measure next year and select which Anglican province to join.

In a letter Wednesday to Pittsburgh Episcopal Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr., U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori warned that such a move could result in declaring the Pittsburgh Diocese vacant and ordering Bishop Duncan's removal.

Bishop Duncan invoked the legacy of theologian Martin Luther today in his first public response to the wraning.

"Here I stand," Bishop Duncan told clergy and laity at the convention. "I can do no other. God help me. Amen."

Those were the words spoken by Martin Luther in 1521 when he was called before the Diet of Worms for his supposedly heretical works. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V declared the theologian an outlaw and he went into exile.

Bishop Duncan's short response to Bishop Schori came after he told convention deputies that "as a diocese, we have come to a fork in the road."

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.