Sacraments of Love: A Prayer Journal

Ferry, who was born in 1952 in a suburb of Toronto, tried much of his early life to suppress his homosexuality because of his strong Anglican faith. His marriage proved to be unsuccessful, and Ferry found himself, even as he studied for the priesthood, investigating the gay subculture of Toronto. He became a priest and served his ministries well, but began to have homosexual affairs. After he became pastor of a church in a Toronto suburb, several members of the congregation protested to the bishop about Ferry's homosexuality. His subsequent trial, as he relates it here, amounted to a 20th-century witch-hunt, with the religious court's decision something out of Catch-22 in that the church found Ferry ``not guilty of disobedience since the bishop had never in fact instructed him to give up his relationship, but guilty of wrongdoing for refusing to give it up.'' Although this book sometimes reads like a self-help journal, its earnest but dry prose is a strong indictment of homophobia both in the church and society. The defrocked Ferry now works with a Toronto AIDS organization. Author tour. (Apr.)