COLUMBUS The Episcopal Church yesterday elected the first female presiding bishop in the Anglican Communion's 500-year history, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, but debates throughout the rest of the day showed it would take more than new leadership to heal dissension over the issues of gay clergy ordination and same-sex blessings.

While the new presiding bishop said in a news conference after her election that reconciliation within the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion would be her focus, comments yesterday from others were a sign that the possibility of schism remained.

"I think she's going to bring into sharp relief the differences of being an Episcopalian and being an Anglican," said the Rev. Martyn Minns, a spokesman for the American Anglican Council, a network of bishops, priests, and laity that affirms biblical authority and Christian orthodoxy in the church. "And I can't see how she can do anything other than lead the Episcopal Church in walking apart from the rest of the communion.

"She has my prayers."

The historic election of Bishop Jefferts Schori on the fifth ballot from among seven candidates by the church's bishops, who met in closed session, dominated the sixth day of the nine-day triennial convention.

She was approved overwhelm-ingly in the House of Deputies by both its laity and clergy members. Her election comes 30 years after the Episcopal Church first agreed to ordain women.

Yesterday's election is certain to further muddy the American church's relations with the rest of the communion. Twelve of the 38 provinces scattered across six continents Canada and the United States do not ordain women; 11 ordain women clergy, but not bishops; 11 canonically allow women to be ordained as bishops; three allow women bishops; and for one province, Myanmar, there is no information.

Bishop Jefferts Schori, bishop of the 6,000-member Diocese of Nevada, will take over in November from the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, whose nine-year term expires. She has a reputation as a conciliator with the ability to bring disparate sides together on difficult issues.

"I am awed and honored and deeply privileged to have been elected," Bishop Jefferts Schori said. "I think this is a grand adventure."

The presiding bishop, one of the 38 leaders of the Anglican Communion, which is led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the chief spokesman for the Episcopal Church.

It has been years since the denomination has spoken with a unified voice.

Bishop Jefferts Schori, 52, inherits a church struggling to find peace not only within its own borders but with the worldwide church as well.

"The election of the 26th presiding bishop is a stunning development," said Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan, Jr., moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.

The network, which has positioned itself as the home for biblically conservative Episcopalians, was formed after the confirmation of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson at the 2003 General Convention. It includes 10 dioceses and some 900 parishes - about 12 percent of the church's 7,200 parishes.

"For the Anglican Communion worldwide, this election reveals the continuing insensitivity and disregard of the Episcopal Church for the present dynamics of our global fellowship," Bishop Duncan said. "Nevertheless, it remains our analysis that the decisive moment in contemporary Anglican history was the confirmation vote on the bishop of New Hampshire in August of 2003, the consequences of which continue to unfold."

Bishop Jefferts Schori, the first female nominee for presiding bishop, voted for the confirmation of Bishop Robinson in 2003 but did not participate in his consecration the following year. She said yesterday that she favored local parishes having the option to conduct same-sex blessings.

Leaders of the American Anglican Communion admitted yesterday that none of the seven candidates for presiding bishop met their standards.

"We are truly two churches under one roof," said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president of the AAC.

Behind the scenes yesterday, a special legislative committee continued hammering out the language of two controversial resolutions that will form the crux of the Episcopal Church's response to questions raised by the worldwide church after Bishop Robinson's confirmation.

Those questions, contained in the so-called Windsor Report that was issued by a special commission in 2004, called on the Episcopal Church to find ways "to maintain the highest degree of communion possible" among the autonomous national churches that represent more than 70 million Anglicans in 164 countries around the world.

In response, an Episcopal Church commission, of which Bishop Jefferts Schori was a member, released a report this spring called "One Baptism, One Hope in God's Call" that offered the 11 resolutions that are at the heart of this convention.

The most critical of those deal with the election of bishops and blessings for same-sex unions.

The 29-member special legislative committee, made up of bishops, priests and laity, has been painstakingly slow in developing the resolutions' language. The resolutions not only have to be acceptable to the bicameral houses of deputies and bishops at the General Convention, but also satisfy the broader Anglican Communion. The latter expects the American arm of the church to declare a moratorium on selecting partnered gay bishops and authorizing same-sex blessings.

The committee has fallen behind schedule in getting the resolutions to the houses for a vote. It's hoped that those resolutions will be brought before both houses today.

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Steve Levin is a reporter for the Post-Gazette.

Contact Steve Levin at: slevin@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1919.

First Published June 19, 2006, 5:29 p.m.