Elvis nuptials ties bishop up in knots Anglican primate all shook up by gyrating, marrying minister By Roberta Avery SPECIAL TO THE STAR (from the Toronto Star) COLLINGWOOD — As the town dubbed Elviswood gears up for its annual Elvis convention, the bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada are developing suspicious minds about the hip-swivelling reverend known as Elvis Priestley. "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 ministry," said Ron Ferris, the bishop of Algoma. Dorian Baxter, a Thornhill public school teacher and an ordained Anglican priest who is a "priest on leave" from Ferris' Algoma diocese in Sault Ste. Marie, said he is outraged at the suggestion. "I refuse to resign from holy orders. Using the King to serve the Lord I have reached tens of thousands of people," said Baxter, who dons an Elvis suit and belts out Presley's music as part of his ministry. Besides Ferris, two other bishops have expressed disapproval, Baxter admits. Last year, Baxter, 53, who won the Showstopper Award at the Collingwood Elvis convention in 1996, trod on the blue suede shoes of the organizers of the Collingwood event by conducting Elvis funerals. When they called Baxter's Elvis funerals "despicable" and made it clear his presence in Collingwood wouldn't be appreciated, Baxter took off to Elvis celebrations in Memphis, Tenn., where he was given a welcome fit for a king, he said. "The people in Memphis read what Collingwood was saying about me and invited me down and gave me a royal welcome," said Baxter, who will be performing in Memphis again in mid-August. While Ferris frowns on all of Baxter's hip-gyrating performances, it's his Elvis weddings that have really got him all shook up, he said. The registrar-general's office pulled Baxter's licence to perform marriages in Ontario in 1998, at Ferris' urging. But Ferris said concerns have been raised recently with his office about Baxter continuing to conduct weddings. Baxter, who hasn't tried to register for the Collingwood Elvis event this weekend because he's conducting an Elvis wedding in Oakville, said he gets around the legalities of not holding a licence by doubling up with a United Church minister whose presence makes the procedure legal. Baxter said he has tried to "turn the other cheek" at the efforts to discredit him, but the last straw came in April when he was "banned from the pulpit" of St. Jude's Anglican Church in Scarborough for "doing Elvis." "This is very hurtful. I receive nothing but encouragement and accolades from Anglican and other church congregations across Canada," he said. Baxter, a high-ranking Freemason and the past grand chaplain for the Grand Lodge of Canada, had preached at Masonic functions at St. Jude's for the two previous years. Rev. Ian Noseworthy of St. Jude's said it's his prerogative to decide who preaches at his church. "It was time for a change," he said, refusing further comment. Rev. Archdeacon Ken Cardwell of St. Paul's Church in Fort Erie said he wouldn't "even go near" Baxter's battle with the bishop, but he did say Baxter raised $5,000 for the church's outreach ministry with an Elvis show last year. Meanwhile, more than 80,000 Elvis fans are expected to be rocking 'n' rolling this weekend in Collingwood, said Don Wilcox, the vice-president of the Collingwood Elvis Festival. "We're blocking off three city blocks for the street dance. That shows how big it will be," said Wilcox. The theme of this year's festival on the 25th anniversary of Presley's death is "Collingwood Remembers." _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com