Skip to content

Algoma bishop asks Elvis impersonator to resign as priest

The Right Reverend Ronald C. Ferris, Anglican Bishop of Algoma, is asking for the resignation of an ordained priest who conducts weddings and funerals as "Elvis Priestly," the Toronto Star reports.
BishopFerris

The Right Reverend Ronald C. Ferris, Anglican Bishop of Algoma, is asking for the resignation of an ordained priest who conducts weddings and funerals as "Elvis Priestly," the Toronto Star reports.

The newspaper is reporting that Bishop Ferris (shown) considers the activities of the Reverend Dorian Baxter as being in "poor taste."

"I have asked him to relinquish the exercise of his ministry," the Sault-based bishop told the newspaper.

Baxter is considered a priest "on leave" from Algoma diocese, which stretches from Thunder Bay to parts of Quebec.

He currently teaches elementary school in Thornhill, Ont.

An article published five years ago by Northern Life magazine described how Baxter started mixing Elvis into his ministry in 1983 as a response to less-wholesome bands such as Motley Crüe. At the time, he was a parish priest in Thunder Bay.

That year, Baxter preached a five-point sermon titled E-L-V-I-S to a congregation in Sudbury.

“E is for Eucharist, L is the love of Jesus, V is the victory of the Holy Spirit, I is the inspiration of the Trinity and S is the salvation of Christ. It was one of my best sermons ever,” he told Northern Life.

Lost his licence to perform weddings

It's Baxter's Elvis weddings and funerals that seem to draw the most criticism.

According to the Toronto Star, the minister's licence to perform marriages was revoked by Ontario's registrar-general in 1998, at the request of Bishop Ferris.

'I refuse to resign'

Baxter gets around this hurdle, the newspaper says, by having a United Church minister attend to make the cermony legal.

Responding to the bishop's request, Baxter told the Star: "I refuse to resign from holy orders."

"Using the King to serve the Lord I have reached tens of thousands of people."

More information

To read the Toronto Star article, click here.

To read a 1997 article about Rev. Baxter from Northern Life magazine, complete with photos of him as both Anglican priest and Elvis Priestly, click here.

It's now or never

To receive free, real-time E-mail updates of SooToday.com's exclusive coverage of local news, just send an Email with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line to [email protected].

This free service is provided courtesy of the community-minded businesses whose advertisements appear on these pages.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
Read more