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economist suntribune faith saturday sept si 2002 elvis battles the bishops by roy green staff writer far from leaving the building rev dorian baxter is one elvis who intends to be around for a while in fact the man known as elvis priesdey is so angry with the bish ops of the anglican church he may start his own ministry if they persist in harassing me i may decide to institute my own church the independent anglican church of canada the anglican minister and former stouffville resi dent said from his newmarket home this week mr baxter who is a priest on leave from the churchs algoma diocese in sault ste marie has run afoul of the bishops of the anglican church of canada for his popular elvis ministry ronald ferris bishop of algoma who didnt return calls from the economist suntribune doesnt appreciate mr baxters flamboyant way of preaching i feel that mixing the anglican teaching with an elvis ministry is in poor taste so i have asked him to relinquish the exercise of his min istry mr ferris told the toronto star in july but mr baxter is having none of it i blatantly refuse to resign from holy orders using elvis to serve the lord i have brought thousands back to the faith and raised probably 100000 for anglican united and catholic churches and many charities in 1998 the ontarios registrar- generals office pulled his licence to perform marriages at the urging of mr ferris since his licence was pulled mr baxter brings along a united church minister to conduct the official service they the bishops have always presumed i have been abusing my licence by doing weddings in elvis jumpsuits i have never done that if they had even once called me they would know i never went against church protocol i do the services in my robes and with decorum using elvis to serve the lord i have brought thousands back to thefaith only after the service he said will he do his versions of elvis songs like blue suede shoes one for the father two for the son three for the holy spirit and your life has just begun even though he cant officially perform wedding vows for the anglican church he still feels the bishops are determined to have him resign not long ago i got a call from the government of ontario saying they were closing out their file on me the bishop had instigated a criminal investigation i was even more shocked to find theyd hired a private detective people called to tell me theyd been interviewed he was particularly angered earlier this year when he was dropped from a longstanding arrangement with st judes anglican church in toronto im a 32nd degree mason and shriner and for the past two years i have been booked to be the keynote preacher for toronto district 4 masons at the request of rev ian noseworthy of st judes this year just a week before the event i got a call from canon noseworthy who said he was embarrassed but hed been given a clear directive that i was not allowed to preach even though it had been advertised for a year he said the rea son given was that i do elvis now the grand lodge says it will no longer have the service at st judes and the united church imme diately booked me for next april mr baxter who is a public school teacher with the durham region school board is also upset calls and letters to the diocese and mr ferris have gone unanswered ive called and called but they havent responded four years ago ron ferris sent me papers asking me to relinquish my holy orders i cant believe as a christian he didnt pick up the phone and talk to me but if anglican leaders are less than enthusiastic about blue suede ministers mr baxter has plenty of staff photomike barrett elvis priestley former stouffville resident dorian baxter is in trou ble with the anglican church of canada for his elvis ministry supporters elsewhere each month our dinner meeting is dedicated to a saint and every year in august we dedicate our evening to a living saint said david lee of the ministry to separated widowed and divorced families at st andrews catholic church in oakville this year we chose to dedicate it to dorian baxter elvis priestley who we consider to be a living saint mm f 1 vv y 7wwfw- wssk hi pbc wants you to win an hbc gifiipd wl simply send in this ballot and you will automatically be entered to win an hbc gift card worth 50 v ficr hki ljbm gift cam ihfc w m 0 3e wiaccofti name address city postal code telephone email community newspaper name mail your entry back today to hbc gift card co hudsons bay company 401 bay street ste 2801 toronto ontario m5h 2y4 or email your name address and phone number and community newspaper to giftcardhbccom for complete rules and regulations please email hbcgiftcardharbingerideascom no purchase necessary one entry per person skill testing question applies deadline for entry is october 7th 2002