Episcopal Diocese In California Urges Couples To Marry Outside The Church

Bishop Marc Handley Andrus has urged members of the Episcopal Diocese of California to instruct its followers to marry in a civil ceremony and have their unions blessed by the Episcopal Church. Andrus is following a model used heavily in European countries, but not in the United States.

Andrus is finding support among California clergy who are being pressured by shifting legal and social opinions about who can be married. California recently lifted a ban on same-sex weddings, which the Episcopal Church does not recognize.

Some pastors feel that they are being placed in the middle of a political statement. Pastors work as agents of the state to perform wedding ceremonies that are recognized as legal marriages. They are concerned that the ruling on same-sex weddings may lead to a circumstance where a pastor may be put at odds with his or her beliefs, or may require them to perform same-sex weddings as a civil function if they also perform traditional religious marriages according to the dictates of their religious beliefs.

Other pastors see another reason for exiting the wedding business. According to the Conde Nast American Wedding Study conducted in 2006, nearly half of all weddings in the United States take place in a church, synagogue or other house of worship. Pastors privately complain, however, that many couples choose to marry in their churches, but rarely return after the ceremony.

To date, the Episcopal Diocese of California is the only diocese recommending this approach to marriage in the US.

Keywords: Wedding Planning, Weddingblog, Wedding

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