Church of England moves to simplify law on church weddings

The Church of England’s General Synod voted this morning to remove a barrier in its marriage law making it more difficult for couples to marry in the church of their choice.

Under the Church’s existing Marriage Measure, couples are allowed to marry in churches if they reside within a parish or are on the electoral role, or if they have a ‘qualifying connection’, such as being baptised or confirmed in the parish.

Until now, couples with a qualifying connection have been entitled only to marry in a church within the parish with which they have the connection, and not a church elsewhere in the wider benefice.

While a bishop may give his general consent to a resident couple to marry in a church outside the parish but within the wider benefice, he may not give the same consent to couples with only a qualifying connection to a particular parish, thereby restricting them to the parish.

The motion for a change to the law was put forward by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt Rev John Packer.

He said the existing law was “unfortunate” and “unfair”.

“This distinction seems to us unnecessary, hurtful and difficult to justify,” he said.

The motion was passed in Synod by an overwhelming majority, despite some reservations about the cost of changing the law.

The Rev Jan McFarlane, Archdeacon of Norwich, called upon churches to open up as much as they could to couples wanting to marry in them and give them a warm welcome.

She said, “If we say no, for whatever reason, we turn people away and we’ve lost them for good and they’ve got 101 other choices of where to go. On the other hand if we welcome them and their families and friends, and give them a magnificent day, then who knows where it leads.”

Bishop Packer added that relaxing the rules would “help the mission of the Church in its ministry to those seeking marriage in our churches”.

The Marriage Measure marked a significant shift in the Church of England’s marriage policies when it was introduced in 2008, making it easier for couples to marry in the church of their choice. It was introduced in recognition of the fact that people may feel a personal connection to a particular church even if they do not live within the relevant parish.