Hertingfordbury Parish News: March 2004

Questions I Have Been Asked

Q: What about Marriage in Church after Divorce? I didn’t think it was possible. Have things changed?

A: The Church of England teaches that Marriage is for life. It also recognises that some marriages sadly do fail and, if this should happen, it seeks to be available for all involved. The Church accepts that in exceptional circumstances, a divorced person may marry again in church during the lifetime of a former spouse. Some priests may be willing to take such a marriage, others may not be prepared to do so on grounds of conscience, and may not even allow the use of their church either. The law of the land permits them this choice. The above is taken from a General Synod statement dated February 2003.

After much prayer, thought and reading, I decided that I would be prepared to conduct the marriage of divorced people with the following provisos:

1) There shall have been only ONE previous marriage that ended in divorce.
2) That attendance at Marriage Preparation is a necessity NOT a choice.
3) There has to have been a decent period of time between divorce and re-marriage (not less than two years).
4) That neither of the couple wishing for marriage was party to the divorce proceedings.

The Churchwardens and the PCC support me in this action and have adopted it as Parish Policy on Marriage in Church after Divorce.

Rev’d Rosemary (February 2004)

Please note: Although the Hertingfordbury Parish News is produced by St. Mary's PCC, the opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the PCC.