The head of the Anglican Communion in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands yesterday said the Diocese does not support the decision of Virginia's two most prominent parishes to leave the Episcopal Church of the USA.

At the same time, Lord Bishop the Rt Revd Dr Alfred Reid chided Nigerian Bishop Peter Akinola for trying to create a rupture in the Church by accommodating the two Virginia churches.

"The Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands wishes to state that it is not a party to, nor does it support the action of the two congregations in the Diocese of Virginia, USA, which have voted to secede from the Episcopal Church of the USA over the issue of the ordination of Gene Robinson, a self-confessed homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire," Bishop Reid said in a statement issued late yesterday afternoon.

"The Church does not agree with the action of the Archbishop of Nigeria - Peter Akinola - in seeking to create a schism within the global Anglican Communion by facilitating the two Virginia churches in their break away," Bishop Reid said.

"Archbishop Akinola knows full well that the leadership of the worldwide Anglican Communion has been at pains to seek to deal in a holistic and timely manner with the issues raised ever since Robinson's ordination," Bishop Reid added.

He said that immediately following Robinson's consecration, "the Church in the Province of the West Indies took a clear position. in which we emphatically disagreed with that ordination and took our stand on the agreement reached by the bishops at the Lambeth Conference in 1998 - (Resolution 1:10) which states that homosexual behaviour is contrary to Scripture and therefore is inappropriate as a lifestyle to those who aspire to leadership in the Church."

Robinson's consecration in 2003 has plunged the Church into controversy as his appointment has been heavily criticised by traditionalists worldwide.

On Sunday, the Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia voted overwhelmingly to leave the Episcopal Church of the USA and join fellow Anglican conservatives under the leadership of Archbishop Akinola, who has called the growing acceptance of gay relationships a "satanic attack" on the church.

Four other small Virginia parishes have also left, five more voted to break away on Sunday and three more will decide soon whether to follow suit, parish leaders said.

The Truro and Falls Church parishes, however, carry the most clout with a combined membership of more than 4,000 members and with roots they trace back to Colonial times.

Under Anglican tradition, Akinola's move into Episcopal territory amounts to an invasion, since archbishops agree not to start churches outside the borders of their own region.

Yesterday, Bishop Reid made it clear that the Virginia decision was not binding on the remainder of the Communion and said that it should not be confused with how the Church in the West Indies proceeds on its mission.

"It should be emphasised that the Church in Jamaica, in collegiality with others in the Province of the West Indies and the rest of the worldwide Communion, seeks to work for consensus, not divisiveness, and to maintain the fellowship of the Communion without compromising its integrity," Bishop Reid said. "It is in that spirit that ongoing discussions on the most contentious and often painful matter will be conducted."

He also pointed to the appointment of the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, by the Archbishop of Canterbury to chair a committee for the establishment of a covenant to guide the entire Communion in the way forward.

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