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After nearly 27 years as a parishioner, Bill = Meisheid=20 left St. Timothy's Episcopal Church yesterday.

Before = Communion, he stood up in the Catonsville church and asked=20 Maryland's Suffragan Bishop John L. Rabb, who was visiting, = if he=20 rejected the recent consecration of a gay man to serve as a = bishop=20 in the Episcopal Church.

Rabb=20 said he did not and soon afterward, Meisheid walked out. = Then he=20 drove a couple of miles to worship at a gymnasium with = dozens of=20 former St. Timothy's members who had left the parish and the = Episcopal Church in protest earlier this fall.

"There = is no=20 chance for dialogue on this issue," said Meisheid, 56, a = technical=20 writer from Oella, during coffee hour after the service in = the gym.=20 "It's black and white; it's right and = wrong."

Meisheid's=20 journey yesterday provides a glimpse of what a divided = parish can=20 look like in the Episcopal Church, which faces one of its = toughest=20 challenges in years. This month, the church consecrated = Bishop V.=20 Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, to lead the diocese of New = Hampshire.

The move has infuriated tradition-minded=20 Episcopalians, who say that Scripture clearly opposes = homosexual=20 behavior. Some Episcopalians have vowed to leave the church, = setting=20 the stage for what could be a costly legal battle over = church=20 property.

St. Timothy's is one of the most = conservative=20 churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and is the = only one to=20 split over the issue of Robinson's ordination. Members such = as=20 Meisheid have left to form a new parish -- Emmaus Anglican = Church --=20 with their former rector, the Rev. Steven R. Randall. They = have made=20 no claims to St. Timothy's property and meet each Sunday in = the=20 gymnasium of nearby Bishop Cummins Memorial Reformed = Episcopal=20 Church.

More than 160 people attended the 10 a.m. = service=20 yesterday at Emmaus, some of them Episcopalians from other = parishes=20 angered by Robinson's consecration. Sitting on folding = chairs=20 beneath a pair of Plexiglas backboards, parishioners read = from=20 Bibles they had brought from home and sang hymns projected = on a=20 screen in front.

"Everything we have is borrowed," = said=20 Randall, who resigned from St. Timothy's a couple of months = ago=20 after giving a sermon in which he compared the Episcopal = bishops who=20 supported Robinson to the hijackers of 9/11. "We left with = nothing,=20 just a few old hymnals."

Perhaps 70 people attended = St.=20 Timothy's 9 a.m. service yesterday, a considerable drop from = average=20 attendance earlier this year.

A vestryman politely = requested=20 that a reporter not interview parishioners and leave the = property.=20 He said the congregation had suffered through a difficult = split, and=20 members didn't want to talk.

Rabb said his visit was=20 unrelated to the dispute over Robinson and had been = scheduled long=20 ago. He said the parish is trying to rebound.

"There = is a lot=20 of commitment and energy in that congregation," said Rabb in = a phone=20 interview afterward. "They've been through pain, but they = are not=20 dissuaded and they aren't giving in."

The Rev. Arthur = E.=20 Wooley Jr. is leading St. Timothy's as interim rector. Rabb = said the=20 parish would issue a mission statement soon charting its=20 future.

In some ways, Emmaus is already moving ahead. = Yesterday, Randall announced that the fledgling parish would = join=20 the Anglican Mission in America, a missionary organization = that was=20 established in 2000 and has 50 churches.

The = Episcopal Church=20 represents the U.S. branch of the 75 million-member Anglican = Communion. The Anglican Mission works to create new U.S. = churches=20 separate from the Episcopal Church, but loyal to Anglican=20 archbishops in the developing world.

The Anglican = Mission is=20 an outgrowth of a theological division between the Global = North --=20 the United States, Canada and Western Europe -- and the = Global South=20 -- parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America -- which tend to = be more=20 traditional and conservative on issues of scriptural = interpretation=20 and homosexuality.

Yesterday, one of the Anglican = Mission's=20 U.S.-based bishops, the Rt. Rev. Thaddeus Barnum, spoke to = Emmaus=20 parishioners about the importance of sticking to their = principles=20 when other dissident parishes have declined to break with = the=20 Episcopal Church for fear of losing their = property.

"Our=20 children are watching and wondering: 'Does anyone stand for = the=20 truth today?'" Barnum preached. "My children need to see = leaders who=20 will lead to the path of righteousness."

Several = former St.=20 Timothy's parishioners said they were sorry to leave their = church=20 behind, but said that their faith was more important than = real=20 estate.

"We are the church," said Nancy Brown, 65, a = Woodlawn=20 resident who had been a member of St. Timothy's since 1978. = "You can=20 worship the Lord anywhere."