Niagara Anglican priests to bless same-sex marriage

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.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Provinces, Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion)

10 comments on “Niagara Anglican priests to bless same-sex marriage

  1. clayton says:

    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.

  2. Milton Finch says:

    Hey, peeps,
    What happened to the “DIScriptive” verses the “perscriptive” thingy that the two heads of the Episcopal thingy lied to ++Rowan about?

  3. Milton says:

    Oh, that was Niagara Anglican priests, not,…
    (Emily Litella) Ohhh, that’s very different! Never mind!

  4. deaconjohn25 says:

    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.

  5. dwstroudmd+ says:

    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?

  6. GrandpaDino says:

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

  7. montanan says:

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

  8. azusa says:

    #1, 4, 5 – me four!

  9. Anvil says:

    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.

  10. prairie boy says:

    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.