From the Bolton News:
A JUDGE from Bolton is playing a key role in modernising the Church of England’s rules.
As a member of the General Synod, the body which sets the church’s laws, Geoffrey Tattersall QC, aged 59, from Lostock, recently chaired a group that proposed a relaxing of the rules on where people can marry.
Its recommendation has been adopted by the Synod and when the legislation is introduced, it will mean couples are no longer tied to churches where one of them is resident or on the parish electoral role.
They will now be able to tie the knot in any church where they have a “qualifying connection.”
This fills me with very mixed feelings – as does the present arrangement. Because the C of E is an established church, everyone really has a constitutional right to be married in a C of E church. On the one hand, good for ‘outreach’, ‘mission’, etc. On the other hand, it can all become just a superficial fashion statement. It happened at our church a month or so ago. The church was packed and the regular congregation was working hard to make it a moving and significant baptism. Almost all the visitors were totally uninterested, had the attention spans of fruit flies and couldn’t conceal their boredom. It was frankly a horrible occasion and distressed many of our parishioners enormously.