Officials of the Episcopal Church have taken a first step toward removing theologically conservative Bishop Robert Duncan as head of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, but he dodged an ecclesiastical bullet when the three senior bishops of the church declined the presiding bishop's request to immediately suspend him.

Instead, all the bishops of the Episcopal Church will vote on whether to depose him, most likely at their fall meeting, for "abandoning the communion" of the Episcopal Church. "Communion" is a broad term that encompasses the beliefs, fellowship and structure of a church.

Bishop Duncan yesterday denied the charge.

"Few bishops have been more loyal to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church," he said. "I will continue to serve and minister as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh."

Neva Rae Fox, a spokesman for the national church, said that Bishop Duncan would receive a "full hearing" before the House of Bishops, which would serve as a trial.

Bishop Duncan is a leader of the conservative movement in the Episcopal Church. At the crux of the abandonment charge is the vote that his diocese took in November to leave the Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It plans to realign with a conservative Anglican province on another continent. A second vote is required to confirm it.

Yesterday, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote to Bishop Duncan, saying that a majority of the nine-member Title IV Review Committee, which investigates disciplinary matters, had found that he had "abandoned the communion of this church."

She had asked the three longest-serving bishops in the church to immediately "inhibit" him from ministry, until the full House of Bishops could decide his case. But on Jan. 11, "They informed me that such consents would not be given at this time by all three bishops," she wrote.

She called on Bishop Duncan to recant.

"I would ... welcome a statement by you within the next two months, providing evidence that you once more consider yourself fully subject to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the church," she wrote.

Bishop Duncan noted that the charge originated with a petition from 21 Pittsburgh clergy and laity, some of whom had sued the diocese in 2003 over its renunciation of national church claims to local property.

"This very small minority here, which has sought redress in the civil courts, has now turned to the ecclesiastical courts. The senior bishops of the church were unprepared to accept their allegations, all of which derive from very public statements over the past five years, as the basis for removing me without even the benefit of a trial. I think they will succeed no better in ecclesiastical court than they have in the civil courts," he said.

"I have been a faithful bishop of this church. I am a son of this church. My only offense is to have opposed the doctrinal and moral drift of this church and to bear in the House of Bishops all manner of anger and at times even derision."

The Episcopal Church is fractured over issues of biblical authority, beliefs about the role and identity of Jesus, and sexual ethics. Decades of dispute reached a crisis in 2003, with the consecration of a partnered gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Since then a conservative minority has sought to "realign" with like-minded Anglican provinces, typically in Africa or South America. Of more than 70 million Anglicans worldwide, 2.1 million are U.S. Episcopalians. Most Anglicans live in the global South.

At its annual convention in November, the diocese voted 227-82 to realign with another Anglican province but must vote again to confirm it. One diocese in California has taken that second vote, and last week its bishop was barred from ministry.

The Rev. Jonathan Millard, rector of Ascension Church in Oakland, who presented the argument to secede at the November convention, called Bishop Duncan "a man of grace and conviction."

"Maybe this action highlights just how deep the rift is between those who hold a biblical understanding of the Christian faith and those in the extreme left of the church who would seek to depose a bishop for upholding biblical standards," he said.

The petition against Bishop Duncan from the 21 Pittsburghers argues that he "will continue plans to remove the diocese from the Episcopal Church while taking as much property as possible. It would be both a mockery and a breach of fiduciary duty to allow such a person to remain in office supposedly conducting the business of a diocese of The Episcopal Church."

The Rev. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in East Liberty, and a leader of the pro-Episcopal minority in the diocese, signed it.

"We are convinced that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh should remain in the Episcopal Church," he said.

He was not disappointed that the senior bishops declined immediate action, because action by the House of Bishops would still have been required.

"The important thing is that the Committee on Review looked at all the documents that were submitted, and came to the conclusion that the bishop has abandoned the communion," he said.

Both the original complaint and a summary prepared by the denomination's chancellor focus on public actions that Bishop Duncan took to break ties with the Episcopal Church and find another jurisdiction. There are no accusations of heresy or of moral failings.

The Rev. George Werner, dean emeritus of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Downtown, and a former president of the denomination's House of Deputies, said the intention of both Bishop Jefferts Schori and the three senior bishops was to make sure Bishop Duncan received due process. The Rev. Werner, who has long been at odds with Bishop Duncan, appointed four of the nine people on the committee that declared Bishop Duncan had abandoned the communion. They would not have done so lightly, he said.

"They are not rubber stamps for anybody," he said. "This is all about due process, and it's as much to protect the bishop as it is to protect the church."

The diocese's important "standing committee" has not yet discussed the latest situation. But its president, the Rev. David Wilson, rector of St. Paul's, Kittanning, said he believed they would all support Bishop Duncan.

"Bishop Duncan ... is in communion with the vast majority of Anglicans in this diocese and the vast majority of Anglicans throughout the world," he said.