A quarrel within the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut escalated Wednesday when nine conservative bishops from other states threatened to take Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith to religious court over his suspension of one priest and his threat to remove five others.
Last year the priests asked for a different bishop to oversee them because they disagreed with Smith's support for the 2003 consecration of Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the denomination's first openly gay bishop. The priests' congregations also stopped paying their regular contributions to help support the diocese.
Smith responded by threatening to suspend the priests.
Then earlier this month Smith did formally suspend one of the priests, the Rev. Mark Hansen of St. John's Church in Bristol. The diocese said Hansen was removed because he took an unauthorized sabbatical and St. John's had stopped making payments to the...
