In California's Central Valley, 10 months after Bishop John-David Schofield led most of the 8,000-member Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin out of the Episcopal Church into an Anglican province in South America, he still occupies the same Spanish mission-style headquarters in Fresno.

Some 125 miles north in Stockton, Bishop Jerry Lamb, who has been recognized by the Episcopal Church -- the U.S. branch of Anglicanism -- as the legitimate heir of the Diocese of San Joaquin, works from a rented office; most of his flock of nearly 1,800 worships in rented rooms.

Each says it's the only true Diocese of San Joaquin.

As in a bitter divorce, each claims to be noble but wronged. One has the house, the other, at least for now, rents an apartment with help from Mom. Though children struggle with loss, each spouse is glad to be free.

"We have that kind of fervor that you would have found in the early church," said Nancy Key, spokesman for the reorganized Episcopal diocese

The other side is no less exuberant.

"We've been able to get about the gospel and doing our work as a church without being distracted by the kinds of arguments that folks seem to want to get into in the Episcopal Church. We're not about trying to change the church. We are trying to be the church as best we can and as imperfect as it is," said Rev. Carlos Raines, who has remained rector of St. James Cathedral.

When the diocese voted in september 42 of 48 parishes chose to leave the Episcopal Church, leaving six buildings in Episcopal hands and fragments of other congregations in community centers or rented churches.

Although much about San Joaquin's experience is unique, its story is instructive about the problems that may lie ahead for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, which will vote Saturday on whether to join San Joaquin in seceding.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said she expects the reorganization to be "somewhat different" here, due to better preparation by Pittsburghers who want to remain in the Episcopal Church.

The breaks follow years of theological disputes within the 2.3 million-member U.S. church that reached a crisis with the 2003 consecration in New Hampshire of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a partnered gay man.

Conservatives say their underlying concern was that some bishops no longer upheld biblical authority or core doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus. Church advocates say it has always welcomed diversity.

Many Anglican leaders in the southern hemisphere or global South, where most of the world's 77 million Anglicans live, are theologically conservative and have invited like-minded Episcopalians to join them.

Remain Episcopal, a group that became the core of the diocese that retained its ties to the U.S. church, tried to prevent the split. After 42 of 48 parishes voted to realign with Anglicans in South America, it worked with the Episcopal Church to reconstruct the diocese. Bishop Jefferts Schori nominated Bishop Lamb, the retired bishop of a neighboring diocese, to run it. He was confirmed in March. Episcopal headquarters sent $500,000 to the struggling diocese, and has been asked for $600,000 more in 2009.

In late April, the national church and Episcopal diocese sued Bishop Schofield to reclaim church property. Merrill Lynch froze disputed diocesan and parish accounts. But most belonged to a retreat center that both sides use, and they reached an agreement to fund it.

There is little love lost between bishops. Bishop Lamb refers to "Mr. Schofield." The Rev. Bill Gandenberger, canon to the ordinary for Bishop Schofield, says, "The Episcopal Church has, without any authority, entered our diocese."

Bishop Lamb attended this summer's Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, a sign that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, regards him as legitimate. A letter from the Archbishop Williams about Bishop Schofield said he "cannot be regarded as having withdrawn from the Anglican Communion" but his exact status, and that of his diocese "remain unclear." He put a task force to work on the matter.

For those who remain part of the U.S. church, hard work lies ahead to ensure that the new leadership never becomes as lopsided toward one point of view as the old was, Ms. Key said.

"Those of us who have been in this from the beginning have been a little bit like cowboys exploring the wild West. We are used to taking charge and being a little bit counter-establishment. Now we are the establishment," she said.

"We have families that are divided. You have close friends in parishes where one thought the Episcopal Church was correct and others thought the bishop was correct. They were forced to choose sides, so it is painful. We have had a lot of fun rebuilding, but there is a lot of healing that needs to go on."

The lawsuit looms. Some people wonder what the tiny Episcopal diocese would do with 40 buildings. The Rev. Mark Hall, a top aide to Bishop Lamb, believes most people want to stay with their building and may return to the Episcopal fold if their pew does.

Both sides said that time donated by sympathetic attorneys has kept their legal costs manageable. The Rev. Hall estimates that the Episcopal diocese has paid $40,000-$50,000 to pursue the case, and all assessments paid by its churches are going toward litigation costs because the national church has said it's money can only support mission work, he said. The Rev. Gandenberger would not cite what it has cost to defend it.

Still, he regrets the fight.

"It's been terribly destructive to the gospel," The Rev. Hall said.

The Rev. Gandenberger, the Anglican canon, said those who chose the Southern Cone accepted the risk to buildings.

"There is abundant life, after the convention vote," he said.

"The relief that we feel, the focus regained, is something that I want them to know in Pittsburgh. Making the decision is the hardest part. Once it is done there is wonderful freedom. We can look at the Episcopal Church and say, 'Hah! We're not part of that any longer.' We don't have to be embarrassed by it any longer."

It makes little difference to parishioners that they now have a headquarters in Buenos Aires instead of New York, he said.

The Rev. Glenn Kanestrom is rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Riverbank, which kept its building but lost about 20 of 110 regular worshipers to the Anglican diocese.

"We've felt the pain of separation," he said.

At the same time, he said, his parish is more involved in the diocese because its people were once excluded from leadership.

"It's freer and more open," he said.

Diocesan life has not swung from solidly conservative to solidly liberal, he said. Conservatives are welcome in a way that liberals -- or even moderates -- had not been.

The most striking change is the presence of female priests. San Joaquin was among three Episcopal dioceses -- of 110 -- that did not allow them.

The Rev. Kathryn Galicia, priest-in-charge of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Turlock, went to a neighboring diocese to be ordained in 2006. She took an unpaid post there, working at a garden center while waiting for a ministry in San Joaquin. That came when Bishop Schofield went to the Southern Cone.

Her parish of 20 worships in a United Methodist Church.

"When I first came here they were feeling really bereft. They were grieving for their parish and were very angry about what happened. They wanted their building back," she said,

"I think they still want their building back, but it doesn't have the importance it once did. They want to move on and grow our branch of the church."

Pittsburghers "can learn from our experience and carry on," she said. "Don't give up hope. It does get better. You will get a tremendous amount of support from all over the country, from very surprising places."

The diocese has not taken a full swing to the left. Bishop Lamb supports civil marriage for gays, but has told his clergy not to conduct gay weddings. That's crucial for St. John's in Tulare, a conservative parish that remained Episcopal.

After months of discussion, two-thirds of the church's 170 members voted to stay and nearly 40 people left for the Southern Cone. But Bishop Schofield did not try to take their building, and they are working to rebuild the church community.

"We are almost starting from scratch as a congregation," said the Rev. Rob Eaton. "We can't do business as usual. We have to reconsider who we are and how we go about telling people in the community who we are and being clear to the rest of the Diocese of San Joaquin about who we are. We see ourselves not only as a mission to the world, but even to the Episcopal Church."

Once in the inner circle of the diocese, he is now on the margins. He has told Bishop Lamb that he does not recognize him as his bishop and is fighting over access to parish funds.

At St. James Cathedral, the Rev. Raines said he will have no regrets even if the courts give building to Bishop Lamb.

"We're glad we made the decision that we made," he said. "It will be in the hands of a judge at some point and most of the people I talk to tell me, rather cheerfully, that if worst comes to worst, we will meet in a school."

As the vote nears for Pittsburgh, "the most important thing to do is to treat other people with respect and love, and not do or say things that you may think back on and be ashamed of," he said.

"I would encourage everybody on both sides to express as much passion and love toward each other as they possibly can. If we have to go to court, we have to go to court. That doesn't mean that we have to speak with contempt or abuse one another."

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Correction/Clarification: (Published Sept. 30, 2008) The Rev. Mark Hall, a top aide to Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, said of the fight over church property now held by the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, "It's been terribly destructive to the gospel." The quote was attributed to the wrong person in this story as originally published Sept. 28, 2008 about the two dioceses of San Joaquin, Calif.