Leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that remained in the Episcopal Church after a majority of the diocese seceded, named retired Bishop Robert Hodges Johnson, formerly of the Diocese of Western North Carolina, to serve as its interim spiritual leader with limited powers.

"He is, we believe, the right person at the right time," the Rev. James Simons, president of the diocesan Standing Committee which governs the diocese, told a convention of 71 laity and 42 clergy yesterday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Mt. Lebanon.

Bishop Johnson, who did not attend, is expected to arrive soon, and serve two weeks per month through July.

The announcement came at a special convention to elect new leaders to replace the many who voted Oct. 4 to realign with the more theologically conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in South America. It represented 27 churches.

The diocese originally had 74, although one of those at yesterday's convention is a split from a Greensburg parish that has remained with the Southern Cone, and Trinity Cathedral, Downtown, is affiliated with both dioceses. Some parishes remain undecided.

The rift occurred because those who supported secession believe that the Episcopal Church no longer upholds biblical authority and classic Christian doctrine on matters from salvation to sexual ethics. However the continuing Episcopal diocese includes many theological conservatives, including the Rev. Simons.

Maintaining the delicate relationships between conservatives, moderates and liberals in the reorganized diocese is one reason the Standing Committee opted for a part-time "assisting bishop" to help with pastoral, sacramental and administrative duties while local people make the major decisions. The alternative would have been a fully empowered "provisional bishop," who also would have had to be a retired bishop with no experience in this region.

Bishop Johnson, 74, served Western North Carolina 1990-2004. He has had a somewhat mixed record on contentious church issues, but in his final years favored measures that affirmed partnered gay people in the church. He has not had a high profile on those issues, but is known for his work in CREDO, an Episcopal organization that helps individuals discern their call from God.

In 2006, he became assisting bishop to the strife-ridden Diocese of Southern Virginia after the sudden resignation-under-fire of its bishop. His successful work as a reconciler and rebuilder in Virginia is why the Standing Committee chose him for Pittsburgh, the Rev. Simons said.

"We need someone primarily to be a pastor, not to set an agenda," he said.

The Rev. George Werner, the retired dean of Trinity Cathedral who was elected yesterday to the diocesan Standing Committee, said he had known Bishop Johnson for many years.

"He's theologically centrist and socially liberal. But if he walks into a room, he'll have 10 new friends when he walks out," he said.

In a State of the Diocese Report that received a standing ovation, the Rev. Simons, who had been an influential leader in the original diocese, called for the reorganized diocese to set aside old patterns of suspicion, judgment and attack.

"We have not thought the best of each other and we have assigned motives for others' actions, often without speaking to that person or seeking to obtain accurate information. It was a culture of fear and control, and many in this room, including myself, cooperated in the creation of that culture," he said.

"It was a culture of throwing stones, and I stand before you now to say, 'Today that culture ends.' "

Drawing on a Bible verse about "a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones," he called on local Episcopalians to use their stones for rebuilding. A new diocesan culture must be built on faith in Jesus, the Bible and the ancient creeds, on sacrificial ministry to those outside the church and on the kind of diversity that occurs because the church is a healthy and inviting place, he said.

"That is not to say that there are no boundaries and that everything is necessarily acceptable. But the church is broader than we have allowed it to be here and we need to work at creating a healthy environment that fosters appropriate diversity," he said.

Some of that broadened diversity was already visibile. Integrity, an advocacy group for gay Episcopalians, had a booth at the convention for the first time in many years. Four Episcopal bishops, including Bishop David Colin Jones, the suffragan bishop of Virginia who has been serving as a "consulting bishop" since October, attended.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori made an appearance by video. "The wider church is here to support you," she said. "You are a blessing to this church."

Her office had blessed the diocese with $275,000 of the $764,000 budget it adopted for 2009. Most people on both sides expect litigation over church property in the split, and the budget includes a $250,000 line item for litigation, though church treasurer Joan Gunderson assured deputies that "this is not a commitment to litigation. This is a prudent place in the budget ... should that become necessary."

The convention concluded with the ordination of its first priest since secession, the Rev. Kristian Opat, a Bethel Park native and graduate of the conservative Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, now a curate at the Mt. Lebanon Church. Bishop Jones presided at the ordination, and praised the Rev. Simons' call for reconciliation and rebuilding, calling it "a generous and loving approach, looking to the future of the diocese."