NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Avoiding further controversy in the worldwide Anglican family, the Episcopal Diocese of Newark on Saturday chose a Massachusetts priest with previous experience in the diocese as their new bishop, rather than an openly gay candidate on the ballot.

The Rev. Mark Beckwith, 54, of Worcester, Mass., who had previously served in Morristown and Hackensack, won on the third ballot, taking 253, or about 53 percent of the 477 ballots cast from clergy and lay representatives.

In the final round, 51-year-old Canon Michael Barlowe, an openly gay priest from California, only had one vote, cast by a lay person. Even in the first round, he only had 40 votes, 16 from clergy and 24 from lay people.

The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, an openly gay priest at St. Paul’s Church in Chatham, thought Beckwith was the best choice to lead the diocese, but still thought the global Anglican community’s pressure on the American church to avoid more gay bishops was an “elephant in the room.”

She thought it sad that “someone of the caliber of Michael Barlowe had such a poor showing.”

Barlowe is currently an officer for congregational development for the Diocese of California in San Francisco.

The election in the historically liberal diocese came at a time when divisions over the Bible and sexuality are threatening the denomination and the worldwide Anglican family.

A win by Barlowe would have put the diocese at the center of a crisis over whether Anglicans who disagree about ordaining gays can stay in the same fellowship.

Instead, clergy and lay representatives gathered in Newark eventually chose Beckwith, whom outgoing Bishop John Palmer Croneberger later praised for his social justice commitments.

“I look forward to our next steps together and living among you as your bishop,” Beckwith said in a phone call broadcast via speakers to the gathering.

In a statement released by the Newark diocese, Barlowe said Beckwith would make a talented leader and a faithful pastor. Barlowe also reaffirmed the quest of gays and lesbians to become Episcopal bishops.

“God is calling lesbian and gay persons to be bishops, priests, deacons and lay ministers in the Church, and we must never deny God’s call,” Barlowe said in the statement.

The Rev. Edgar Gutierrez-Duarte, 52, of St. Paul’s Church in Paterson, thought it was still a testament to the diocese’s liberal beliefs that a gay candidate was included on the ballot. But in the end, Beckwith was the best choice, he said.

“He’s been in this diocese. He knows this diocese. He’s deeply rooted in spirituality,” Gutierrez-Duarte said.

A feud erupted in the Anglican community in 2003, after the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

In June, the Episcopal General Convention, the church’s top policy-making body, voted to ask U.S. bishops to “exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration” of candidates “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church.” However, the measure is not binding.

Beckwith must still be approved nationally by diocesan standing committees, which are panels of local lay people and clergy similar to a board of directors, and a majority of the more than 100 Episcopal bishops who lead U.S. dioceses.

If approved by the committees, Beckwith will replace Croneberger, who is resigning to spend more time with his ill wife, said the Rev. Sandye Wilson, a spokeswoman for the diocese. Beckwith will become the diocese’s 10th bishop.

He would start work in December, with his consecration expected in January, according to Wilson.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. representative of the global Anglican Communion.