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July 2000, Page 2 (& continued on page 5).
Index of articles.
Marriage:
index,
Remarriage,
Why marry.
In this issue:
(July 2000)
Vicar's Letter,
Remarriage,
Antioch,
Question.
Marriage in church after divorce
Debate on the remarriage of divorcees has been going on a long time in the Church of England, so when yet another offical report comes out it is natural to ask “What’s new?”. I think this time we may get to the point where C of E remarriages cease to be a postcode lottery.
The position of the C of E is quite complex. Jesus clearly taught that marriages were supposed to last for life, and the church has always wanted to uphold his teaching on this - so a Christian wedding can only take place with the couple intending that it should last “till death do us part.” But the Reformers did not believe that Jesus meant you were still married when your marriage had broken down, and so the C of E has always recognized that divorce does happen and is a real end to a marriage. (In this we disagree with the Roman Catholic Church, which says that marriage is a sacrament and therefore unbreakable.) It is possible, therefore, for divorcees to remarry.
Until register offices were invented, only the church could perform the ceremony. Since a couple have a right to marry, this meant they had a right to marry in church even if one of them was divorced. When civil marriage was introduced, the legal obligation on clergy to conduct weddings of divorcees was removed. The church took the line (last reaffirmed in 1957) of forbidding its clergy to perform the weddings of divorcees. But they were still legally allowed to do so, and this is the position today.
So what has changed? In 1981 the General Synod of the C of E resolved that “there are circumstances in which a divorcee may be married in church during the lifetime of a former spouse.” But during the next few years, the Synod failed to agree on what those circumstances might be. The proposal which came closest to acceptance was called “Modified Option G”, and roughly said that it was OK to marry a couple when:
- neither party had been involved in the breakup of the other’s marriage,
- any children were being properly maintained,
- the divorced party had “learned from their mistake” and the next marriage was being undertaken on a different basis from the last one, and
- there seemed evidence of spiritual growth in the life of the divorced party.
However, although this was the most promising option, it still failed to be agreed by the Synod, and in 1985 the bishops decided that there was nothing to be done except leave the matter alone.
Since then, statistics show the clergy have taken matters into their own hands. Some clergy absolutely refuse all second marriages - some because they believe it is always wrong, but some because they don’t want to be in the position of having to judge the merits of different couples. Some remarry all comers, seeking to express the fact that Jesus gives forgiveness to all who are repentant. Some offer “services of prayer and dedication following civil marriage”. And some clergy (I’m one) feel the Modified Option G would have been the best option, and interpret “spiritual growth” as meaning that the divorcee should have become a committed Christian believer within the local church.
But the obvious fact is that the discipline has broken down. Before 1981 less than 1% of C of E weddings involved a divorcee, but that figure has now risen to 10%. In the Methodist and URC churches the same figure is 62%, indicating that lots of people shop around for a denomination which will do their wedding.
So the aim of the new report is to try to establish a national code of practice for clergy - to recognise that they all have different consciences, but to give them a list of issues to discuss with couples, and criteria for assessing how to proceed; to require them to consult an advisor for guidance, and to create a situation where you probably get the same answer from different churches about your remarriage. And I suppose I think that’s a good idea. PCCs have to discuss the report this year (we’ll be doing so in September), and the Diocese has to vote on it next year.
John Hartley