From staff and wire reports

The congregants of the Church of the Resurrection in West Chicago took a quarter-mile walk the morning of Sept. 9, and when they finished they were no longer Episcopalians.

About 100 people took part in the final service at the church and then walked to their new worship space, which is called Resurrection Anglican Church. The congregation is now under the auspices of the Anglican Church of Uganda.

Church members attributed the decision to leave the Episcopal Church to their unhappiness over the denomination’s growing acceptance of gays and lesbians, including the ordination several years ago of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

Recently, it was also announced that an openly lesbian priest is on the short list of nominees for bishop in the Chicago Diocese.

The West Chicago church became one of a small number of conservative parishes that have left the Episcopal Church to join new dioceses headed up by anti-gay African Anglican bishops. The church members who left relinquished all claims on the building and property at the Church of the Resurrection, turning that over to the Diocese of Chicago.

The leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has begged African bishops to stop interfering in the American church, to no avail.

National Anglican churches, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States, are self-governing and bound to each other largely by tradition and choice. Some anti-gay African bishops have said their dioceses are no longer in communion with the U.S. church since Robinson’s election as bishop.

The election of Chicago’s new bishop, who’ll replace retiring Bishop William Persell, is set to take place Nov. 10.