An Episcopal train still may be leaving an Anglican station, and members of the Quincy Diocese are waiting for it to pass by before deciding to disembark, according to a diocesan press officer.

Resolutions paving the way for a possible split from the embattled U.S. Episcopal Church body were approved during an annual synod meeting last weekend at Christ Church in Moline, said the Rev. John Spencer.

No final decisions about leaving were or could have been made during that synod meeting, he said.

Church constitution requires two readings of such resolutions before they can be made binding.

Passing the first resolution "took the first steps, constitutionally, to make it possible to realign when the time is appropriate to do so," Rev. Spencer said. "You could say we're waiting for the train to pass by before making a final crossing."

Several sister dioceses are considering similar resolutions, and Quincy leaders want to wait to see what others decide.

"We're trying to work as a unit with our sister dioceses, so it's not just one synod acting on its own," Rev. Spencer said. "It's a timing issue."

Steps taken last weekend included "a number of decisions that open the door for possible alignment with a different branch of the world-wide communion," he said in a press release, issued shortly after the synod meeting.

Resolution approval, for example, called for Bishop Keith Ackerman and the diocesan standing committee to further examine realignment options and convene another synod meeting to conduct a second reading and possible final approval of the proposed resolutions.

Another key resolution approved in its first form was a repeated request for "alternative oversight from an archbishop outside the U.S.," Bishop Ackerman said in the press release.

Resolutions were approved last weekend by at least 70 percent of the delegates, Rev. Spencer said. An exact vote total is not available, because approval was made by voice, not written, ballots.

Bishop Ackerman could call another synod meeting at any time, but that could be anywhere between 60 days to a year or so, Rev. Spencer said.

Meanwhile, the synod, as reported, will focus on "moving forward with mission and ministry inside the diocese, around the country and around the world."

Earlier reports of synod action last week, led to some confusion that the synod may have backed down from its position, Rev. Spencer said.

"We haven't capitulated in any way," he said. "We have not changed our position, and we are moving closer to making a formal decision about realignment."

One version of a proposal to wait 12 months before doing anything didn't get through as presented, because of the time element, Rev. Spencer said.

"It's safe to say that no one's mind was changed at synod," he said. "Those who want to stay within the Episcopal Church still feel that way, and those who feel it's necessary to move on still feel that way, too."

And churches, such as Trinity in Rock Island, and St. Mark's in Silvis, do not have to reinsert "Episcopal," as part of its name.

"Each church that felt it was necessary to remove that name had consent from the bishop to do so," Rev. Spencer said.

The division between synods such as Quincy's, and the U.S. Episcopal Church, dates back to the 2003 consecration of the Rev. Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, as a New Hampshire bishop. The crisis escalated in 2006 when the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was named as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Episcopalian bishops were asked to stop advocating teaching and practices "incompatible with Holy Scripture," and no longer consent to consecrating bishops living in a same-sex relationship, or bless same-sex unions. But those assurances have not been given.