Posted on 10/21/2009 11:29:03 AM PDT by marshmallow
AUSTRALIA'S largest and most conservative Anglican diocese will tomorrow approve changes that would permit couples to marry in church, whether or not they are Christian.
The change to be passed at the Sydney synod tomorrow makes the diocese the 14th of the country's 23 to approve the reform that would allow an unbaptised Australian to be married in church provided he or she meets the basic standards for civil marriage: a union between a man and woman voluntarily entered into for life.
The change was first mooted at the Anglican general synod in 2007. It has since been put to the different dioceses for agreement and will go back to the national synod next year. Of 16 dioceses that have so far considered it, 13 have agreed, including Melbourne and Adelaide, with Sydney to follow tomorrow, breaching the halfway mark.
The reform drops the "faith requirement" promulgated in 1981 that requires at least one half of the couple be baptised into the Christian faith (not necessarily Anglican).
The Catholic Church, by comparison, requires both parties to be baptised before they can be married, and one half of the couple must also be Catholic. The Uniting Church does not require a declaration of faith.
Anglicans insist the change has nothing to do with the decline in popularity of the church marriage.
On the contrary, the church in Sydney has recently had to appoint Richard James to do nothing but meet the engaged and conduct weddings at the classic, neo-Gothic St Thomas Church in North Sydney, which has lately been overwhelmed by couples wanting to marry there.
"My target market are people who wouldn't call themselves Christian," the Reverend James said yesterday.
"They are people who have no relationship with God, who want to get married in a church and I welcome.....
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Non-Christians to Marry in Anglican Churches
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Since when has the Anglican church been “Christian”?
File this under old news.
Time to be packing for your bags for Rome when your priest starts talking about a “target market,” as if he were selling fun accessories for the 18-34 crowd.
LOL! What is the point in getting married in a church if you are nnot a Christian? Get married on a boat or at a mall or whatever.
Good question.
I suppose it’s like the homo’s who want to get married in a church.
Or get married anywhere.
An “in your face” thing.
I don’t get it either. Why marry in a church if not a Christian? Why not a Mosque? Or a bar?
This ought to dislodge a few more congregations/dioceses not quite already of the same mind as the TAC group.
Incoming!
LOL! A bar sounds like a good idea. Some people are insane.
those anglicans are putting on a real smorgasbord aren’t they? no wonder the conservative anglicans are migrating to catholocism
2nd Corinthians 6:14
Why do folks ignore the Scriptures so much?
I have a warning for Rome. Two-thirds of Anglican priests in England are homosexual. I hope that Rome has learned from its recent past with homosexuals in the priesthood.
I don't doubt that warning for a second. But I do doubt that very many of them would be particularly interested in taking up the pope's offer to "come on home." They'd rather stay on as Anglicans, no doubt, where they can aspire to be future Gene Robinsons.
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