NEW YORK — A Pennsylvania diocese that is the epicenter of conservative Episcopal dissent over gay bishops rejected the authority of the incoming head of the denomination Wednesday but stopped short of a full break with the Episcopal Church.

The vote by the Diocese of Pittsburgh came on the same day that the liberal Diocese of Newark, N.J., tested the new Episcopal call for restraint on the election of gay bishops by naming a gay priest as one of four nominees to become its next leader.

The Episcopal Church and its fellow Anglicans worldwide are struggling to prevent differences over the Bible and sexuality from escalating into a permanent split.

On Tuesday, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, said the divisions have become so deep that member churches who support ordaining gays may have to accept a lesser role in the fellowship.

The years-long debate over gay ordination reached a crisis point in 2003 when the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Most Anglican archbishops believe gay relationships violate Scripture, and many broke ties with the U.S. church over Robinson. However, conservatives are a minority within the American church. The Diocese of Pittsburgh's vote Wednesday was an attempt to strengthen their position.

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan is asking Williams to immediately assign another Anglican leader to oversee the Pennsylvania diocese.

Duncan objects to the June 18 election of the new Episcopal presiding bishop, Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who voted to confirm Robinson in 2003.