The rot in the Diocese of Niagara started many years ago and has been passed down through the laying on of hands to each new bishop: John Bothwell, Walter Asbil, Ralph Spence and now Michael Bird.

John Bothwell began his reign of error in 1972.

In the early 1980s a friend of mine believed that God was calling him to become a priest in the diocese of Niagara; since he was a Christian, this was a brave move. Things went well for him academically, but John Bothwell had devised a test to weed out the undesirables in Niagara priests.

Before the final interviews candidates were made to watch a movie. Not just any movie, but a hard-core pornographic movie of homosexual men performing acts upon one another that normal people would rather not think about. The ostensible reason for this was to prepare the would-be priests for real life in the sunny Niagara Peninsular; indiscriminate inclusivity being paramount, any expressions of disgust were predictably used to filter out judgemental and diversity-intolerant candidates. To his credit my friend failed the test. Subsequently, after steeling himself for the inevitable assault on his sensibilities, he did become a priest

The reason that the diocese of Niagara is in the heretical mess that it is in today is because the way was carefully prepared by Bothwell and the subsequent troupe of delinquent, scelestious theomaniacs posing as bishops that followed in his footsteps.

Even though Michael Bird is a prat extraordinaire, not all the credit for Niagara’s heterodox buffoonery can be laid at his doorstep: in order to prosecute his folly, he stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Which is just as well considering his height.