THE word “outreach” occurred in almost every context on the Church of Ireland General Synod, meeting in Naas, Co. Kildare, last Friday and Saturday. It featured most prominently in a non-public member’s motion on the Friday, which sought to establish a working group to explore the opportunity of allowing clergy to solemnise marriages in secular venues.
Couples selected secular wedding venues for a lot of reasons, perhaps due to lack of accessibility, comfort, parking, or lavatory facilities in lots of churches, the proposer, Canon Lesley Robinson (Dublin & Glendalough), suggested. “To have the ability to offer such an option may very well be a beautiful missional opportunity for clergy to bring God’s word and Spirit into ceremonies and places and congregations currently off-limits as if someway God’s presence is confined to our beautiful church buildings,” she said.
Nuala Dudley (Derry & Raphoe) drew attention to the growing popularity of civil ceremonies, which now constituted about one third of marriages within the Republic of Ireland. She saw the proposal as giving those that had fallen out of the best way of normal churchgoing a chance once more to interact with the Church, inside “a setting more suitable for them”.
The Bishop of Meath & Kildare, the Most Revd Pat Storey, declared herself a convert on this matter, out of pragmatism: the Church had the selection to don’t have any presence, or to have a presence at a civil ceremony, and he or she would welcome further discussion.
It was reiterated throughout the debate that clergy would have the choice to make a decision. A motion on baptism had not been supported in 2024, because clergy “would have needed to baptise children even when it was against their will, or what they felt the Holy Spirit was doing”, the Revd David Bowles (Dublin & Glendalough) said. “If you switch any individual away from the church, there’s a really strong likelihood that you most likely won’t ever see them again. If you welcome them with open arms, at the least you’re opening up a likelihood for them to have more involvement with the church in the long run.”
The Revd George Okikiolu (Down & Dromore) believed that this should be opposed. “I strongly imagine that this proposal threatens the sanctity, symbolism, and scriptural foundations of the Christian sacrament of marriage,” he said. “The church is sacred ground . . . consecrated ground, a holy place set apart for worship, prayer, and divine ordinances. . .
“Holy matrimony is greater than a contract between two individuals. It is a divine covenant reflective of Christ’s relationship along with his Church. . . Relocating [it] to beaches, banquet halls, or gardens may appear to be a harmless preference, but it surely reduces a sacred ordinance to a private celebration.” It could be “a shift in theology, a compromise in our values, and a possible erosion of spiritual discipline”.
The Archdeacon of Dromore, the Ven. Mark Harvey (Down & Dromore), was not comfortable with the proposal, either. “It just doesn’t feel right,” he said. “When a pair come and tell me they’d wish to get married, we take them through a marriage-preparation course, but in addition, in the event that they’re not regular worshippers, I insist that they do attend church usually within the run-up to the marriage. So why would I try this, after which marry them some place else?”
The Revd Anne Skuse (Cork, Cloyne & Ross) had worked as a college chaplain, and was continuously asked by former students to officiate at their weddings — sometimes because she had built a great relationship with them, she said, and at other times because they told her “You’re the one priest we all know.”
“I even have every so often suggested to them that they go and get married civilly within the registry office, after which I could do a blessing — which seems to me a little bit of a contradiction,” she said. “I feel that it is absolutely essential for us to be on the marketplace. Many of those venues have beautiful ceremony rooms, and any space may very well be a sacred space, holy ground. As Moses approached the burning bush, the bottom became holy. Jesus preached the gospel of fine news on the hillside, by the seashore, within the villages, and within the marketplace.”
Andrew Brannigan (Down & Dromore) pondered whether the ability to conduct marriages outside of church in “exceptional circumstances“ might apply on this case?
The Revd Clive Atkinson (Down & Dromore) had been 20 years within the Church of England’s diocese in Europe. “I even have conducted services up mountains, by lakes and vineyards, within the snow, within the sunshine, in chateaux,” he said. “But I even have to be honest with you, they weren’t an efficient type of outreach. Effective outreach requires a deep connection to a worshipping, faith-filled community.”
The debate had shown the necessity for a working group to take a seat down and talk concerning the pros and cons, Canon Robinson concluded. “Effective outreach starts with relationship. We don’t form relationships with people by saying no and shutting doors of their faces. We keep the doors open, and we encourage them in.”
The ayes had it, and the motion was carried. A working group will likely be established, to incorporate members of each the House of Bishops and the House of Representatives. It will bring its final report and proposals to the Synod in 2027, at the newest.
