Northern Ireland’s Bishop Pat Buckley plans to wed his boyfriend of three years in a ceremony Monday.
Buckley, who was excommunicated from the Catholic church in 1998 when he became an episcopal bishop, came out in 1999. The 57-year-old will wed Filipino chef Eduardo Yango, 32, in a ceremony at Larne borough council, and later in a ceremony at Buckley’s private chapel, also in Larne.
The move puts the bishop on new ground.
“But this is groundbreaking territory,” Buckley told the Sunday Tribune. “Other priests have married women or entered civil partnerships with men. But they’d all left the church beforehand – none continued with their ministry.”
Buckley is often viewed as outspoken.
“Eduardo and I have the courage to nail our colors to the mast and hopefully we will encourage thousands of others to do the same,” he said. “I’ve been battling against the Catholic church as an institution for 25 years. I’m old and wise enough not to lose sleep worrying over what the hierarchy thinks.”
In 2002, Bishop Buckley said that gays and lesbians would be “as welcome in heaven as all others” and described homophobia as “immoral and sinful,” according to a story in Pink News.
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