I Wonder If That Frumpy Akinola Was In Attendance... or the Ex-Anglicans Who Now Run ICEL

A tres Episcopalian love story from today's Vows column in The New York Times -- the groom is a candidate for ordination, by the by....

They were introduced by a mutual friend nearly 10 years ago. "Our first date was at a monastery," said Mr. McGee, who is 36 and known as Stan, recalling their meeting at a service at the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Mass.

"Stan thought it was a very bizarre gay date, but we were both interested in theology," said Mr. Finley, now 35 and a candidate for ordination in the Episcopal Church. "When the monk came by with the holy water I saw Stan take what I assumed was a deep and profoundly pious bow. Later I realized it was because he was wearing a suede waistcoat which he didn't want to get stained." ...

"Stan and John are deeply conservative and old fashioned and traditional in every way," said Jennifer Bradley, a college friend of Mr. McGee's. So a civil marriage ceremony paired with a religious service was planned at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, the Episcopal parish where Mr. Finley's family are longtime members.

On Nov. 12, their wedding day, the couple greeted guests in front of the church. Friends and family watched from candlelit pews as Mr. Finley and Mr. McGee walked down the aisle holding hands.

State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, who received permission from the state to officiate, led the civil ceremony, pronouncing to thunderous applause that the couple were "fully and legally married." The Right Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, then presided over the Eucharist.

That the couple decided on a wedding in the classic mold came as no surprise to those who know them.

And the liturgy was probably more tastefully done than most -- if not all -- of the Catholic Nuptial Masses I've been to. Ever.

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