Top leaders of the Episcopal Church concluded two days of meetings in Salt Lake City Thursday by apologizing for the "pain, the hurt and the damage" caused within the worldwide Anglican Communion when they voted to allow ordination of an openly gay bishop in 2003.

But the church's House of Bishops failed to approve a recommended moratorium on such actions in the future, or to express regret for the decision itself. "We have only begun a serious and respectful consideration of how we might respond" to the call for a moratorium, they said.

Because the Episcopal Church is governed democratically, the bishops represent only one of two bodies that must approve changes in church law. The bishops are scheduled to meet again in March.

In a public statement titled "A Word to the Church," the bishops also said they didn't have sufficient time during their meetings to respond to a proposed moratorium on formal blessing rites for same-sex unions within the church.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told the Deseret Morning News their discussions made it "very clear they want in every way to maintain and deepen relationships with other parts of (Anglican) Communion. They have relationships with bishops in other parts of the world that are precious to them, and anything that would undermine those is very much a concern." The meeting was called in response to the October release of a document dubbed the "Windsor Report," issued by top leaders of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, of which the U.S. Episcopal Church is but one branch, representing some 2.3 million members. That document addressed what many believe has become the most divisive issue the Communion has ever faced — ordination of openly gay leadership.

It was spawned by the Episcopal Church's approval of the ordination of V. Gene Robinson — an openly gay man living with his longtime partner — as bishop of New Hampshire in August 2003.

Largely conservative in membership, the majority of Anglicans worldwide view the action by American bishops as an act of hubris that defies biblical teaching against homosexuality.

Bishop Griswold acknowledged that "sometimes Americans are presented as uncaring and only interested in themselves, so by underscoring our desire to be faithful partners in the Anglican Communion, we're saying we don't want to be seen" as simply self-interested or superior, he said.