One of the top leaders in The Episcopal Church in the US has advised Episcopalians to "keep calm" during a visit to a divided diocese.

|PIC1|Episcopal House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson addressed more than 275 people from 21 of the 60 congregations in the Diocese of Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA on Saturday. She urged them to "hang in there with us" a month after the diocese asked for alternative pastoral care for many of its parishes wanting to leave the Episcopal Church.

"Keep your eyes on the prize, which is the reconciliation of the world through Jesus Christ, whom we love more than life itself," said Anderson to those wanting to remain in the Episcopal Church, according to the Episcopal News Service.

The Rev Tom Woodward, rector of St Bede's Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, said the meeting was a chance for people to share the "basic joy of being Episcopalians and not have to apologise for it", ENS reports.

In May, the Diocese of Rio Grande passed two resolutions asking the Episcopal head, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, for alternative oversight for congregations that feel "deeply alienated from the actions of the Episcopal Church especially since 2003," as Diocese Bishop the Rt Rev Jeffrey N Steenson, who also opposed the actions, wrote in the request.

The Episcopal Church, the US branch of Anglicanism, had widened rifts in 2003 when it consecrated an openly gay bishop.

Fearing the loss of even one of the diocese's larger congregations, Steenson expressed commitment to the recommendations of Anglican leaders, called Primates, to provide alternative pastoral care in order to keep the congregations together. Any congregation considering departure from the diocese and the Episcopal Church should be allowed to temporarily withdraw "for a season of discernment while maintaining membership in the diocese and the Episcopal Church", as another resolution stated.

"We believe this is the best available option to keep our congregations together in the months ahead," Steenson wrote.

The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops and Executive Council, however, have rejected in recent months the Primates' recommendation for alternative pastoral care in the United States. The Executive Council further requested that the presiding bishop decline the pastoral scheme as well.

Anderson urged Episcopalians opposed to the diocese's May decisions to make their voices heard by means of building coalitions in the diocese to influence elections and actions at the convention, according to the ENS. But one attendant on Saturday said they are outnumbered.

Although outnumbered in the diocese, Anderson told the crowd that the majority of the Episcopal Church desires to remain in the US church body and only a minority has decided to split.

Still, the number or congregations voting to leave the Episcopal Church and join conservative Anglican groups set up in the United States by Anglican bishops from overseas continues to grow. The Convocation of Anglicans in North America - an offshoot of the Church of Nigeria - had 34 congregations in May and now claims 40 churches.

Anderson reminded Episcopalians, however, that Anglican and Episcopal churches were born in dissent as she cited debates over the proper way to worship, whether to have bishops and whether women should be ordained.

And amid current tensions, Anderson assured the crowd, "The leadership of the Episcopal Church will never leave you alone, remember that."

Should congregants decide to leave, Anderson's chancellor, Sally Johnson, said the local parishes must be ready to take the initiative to file lawsuits and not expect the Episcopal Church leadership to do so.

Despite the diocese's passed resolution "to pursue settlement through negotiation rather than litigation" and lawsuits not being the most Christian way to decide things, Johnson said, "Sometimes we need the assistance of the secular courts to enforce our canons."