Another parish church has followed the lead of Holy Trinity Lyonsdown in New Barnet, by terminating its yearly payments to the Church of England in protest at the appointment of Canon Jeffrey John as dean of St Albans.

The Rev Hugh Symes-Thompson, vicar of St Peter and St Paul Cranfield's Church near Bedford, said his church, which is also in St Albans diocese, had been encouraged by Holy Trinity Lyonsdown's action over the appointment of Canon John, who supports same-sex relationships.

Holy Trinity Lyonsdown, in Lyonsdown Road, caused ripples throughout the Anglican communion when it announced last month it would not be paying its annual quota of £33,600 to the C of E.

Mr Symes-Thompson vowed to withhold his church's £23,500 quota for 2004. "We are upset about the appointment for the same reasons at Lyonsdown and are taking a similar sort of action," he said. "I was thinking this might be a possible course of action and our PCC parochial church council took note of this after having read the story in the news, so we hope more parishes might do the same. We are encouraged, certainly, by Lyonsdown."

He explained that his church would still be receiving payments from the C of E, unlike Holy Trinity Lyonsdown.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey reinforced his opposition to homosexuality among senior church leaders this week.

In an interview with The Times on Wednesday, he said he would not have approved the appointment of Jeffrey John as dean of St Albans because of his support for same-sex relationships.