Niagara Anglican priests to bless same-sex marriage

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Gay and lesbian couples in Niagara will soon be able to have their marriages blessed by Anglican priests, under a new rite introduced by Bishop Michael Bird, head of the Niagara diocese.

“The short answer is we believe God is calling us to move in this direction. There’s a strong sense of that across the diocese.” Bird said in an interview about the Niagara Rite of Blessing.

The Niagara diocese will be the second in Canada where a bishop has allowed parish priests to perform ceremonies blessing the marriages of same-sex couples who are already in a civil union. The New Westminster diocese in British Columbia was the first.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings

8 Comments
Posted July 29, 2009 at 5:52 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. clayton wrote:

It’s funny how “Niagara” and “Nigeria” look alike when you’re just scanning the headlines in the rss feed.  For a moment there I thought the world had gone mad.

July 29, 5:59 pm | [comment link]
2. deaconjohn25 wrote:

Whenever I see a bunch of clergymen stating that God is calling them to go in an immoral, corrupt, sinful way I am reminded of a line from a Batman movie about “dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight”“—for it is NOT God calling them to the dance, but The Evil One.  And , sadly, these clergy (of whatever church) do not see the real face of who they are dancing with because, most likely,
Satan already owns their souls.

July 29, 8:56 pm | [comment link]
3. dwstroudmd wrote:

By golly, that strictly worded set of remarks by the ABC Rowan Williams regarding same-sex stuff IS certainly having an effect, is it not?

July 29, 9:13 pm | [comment link]
4. GrandpaDino wrote:

#1 - Dang, I did the same thing!  It is getting late!

July 29, 9:17 pm | [comment link]
5. montanan wrote:

#1 and #4 - me, too.  Wow, what a shocker that was!

July 29, 10:46 pm | [comment link]
6. azusa wrote:

#1, 4, 5 - me four!

July 30, 1:00 am | [comment link]
7. Anvil wrote:

2. deaconjohn25
An Irish proverb also applies to Niagara: Shake hands with the Devil and you can’t let go.
May God have mercy on their souls.

July 30, 8:34 am | [comment link]
8. prairie boy wrote:

Way back when, as a postulant for Niagara, I was refused permission to attend Nashota House, so moved on.  God does work in mysterious ways.  What made me think of this was the Bishop at the time was Irish.

July 30, 8:56 pm | [comment link]
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