Terence Edward Finlay graduated from University of Western Ontario

University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...

 in 1959, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 fraternity. He became a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...

, was the tenth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto

Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Diocese of Toronto is an administrative division of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the central part of southern Ontario. It has the most members of any Anglican diocese in Canada. It is also one of the biggest Anglican dioceses in the Americas in terms of numbers of parishioners, clergy...

, and later the Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

The Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario is one of the Anglican Church of Canada's four ecclesiastical provinces. It was established in 1912 out of six dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada located in the civil Province of Ontario, and the Diocese of Moosonee from the Ecclesiastical...

. He retired in 2004.

The University of Western Ontario bestowed him with its "Alumni Award of Distinction" in 2006.

In 1992 he dismissed the Reverend James Ferry

James Ferry

James Ferry is a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada. In 1992 he was removed from his parish after it was revealed that he was gay and in a relationship with another man....

 for maintaining a homosexual relationship, while saying that the church had maintained "a conspiracy of silence" regarding the issue of homosexuality and the priesthood.

Finlay was disciplined by the church body for marrying a same-sex lesbian couple in 2006. He commented that he agreed with the principle of allowing same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

s, and regretted his actions in 1992.