The AP version:
Over the weekend, the diocese's standing committee recommended that the clergy be disciplined, and Lee responded with his decision on Monday.
The move comes ahead of Friday and Saturday's annual diocese council meeting, in which clergy will vote on a successor to Lee, who is expected to retire by 2010, when he turns 72, said Patrick Getlein, the diocese's secretary. Lee's decision means that inhibited clergy will not have a seat at the council and cannot vote, he said.
"It was our understanding that they were not planning to participate in the Council meeting anyway," Getlein said.
Jim Pierobon, a member of The Falls Church who has acted as spokesman for the breakaway churches, said he didn't think the diocese's decision would matter much. But he said it could complicate matters for some more liberal-minded clergy members.
The Falls Church had been preparing a service, presided over by an Episcopal priest who remains on the church's staff, for those who disagreed with the decision to separate from the denomination, he said.
"But Peter Lee has now cut off our ability to accommodate those whom he says need pastoral care," Pierobon said.
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