Minutes of a meeting of Hammersmith & Fulham Deanery Synod on 5th December 2000 at St Simon’s Church, Rockley Road.
There were 18 members of Synod present, and 8 apologies.
The Area Dean, Jonathan Clark, opened the meeting with prayer, and welcomed the Revd David and Mrs Jan Wilson of St Mary’s Osterley, who introduced the subject for us, giving a broad outline of the background to the ongoing debate and presenting a case for changing the present Church of England regulations, which at present do not officially allow marriage in church to people whose former spouse is still alive although in practice many clergy do occasionally perform such marriages at their own discretion. The recommendations are intended to bring the Church’s official position into line with its current practice.
General discussion followed, and then voting on the recommendations of the House of Bishops’ report as follows:-
- Do you accept the principle that there are circumstances in which a divorced person may be married in church during the lifetime of a former spouse?
Yes: 16 No: 2
- (a) Do you support the recommendations of the Working Party summarised in Chapter 9 of the report as being the right way to proceed?
Yes: 11 No: 5 3 abstentions (one absent member sent in a vote from his PCC)
(b) If not, what do you consider to be the shortcomings of the recommendations?
- The Church should provide better marriage preparation for first marriages
- It is hard to see how clergy can make boundaries to avoid the situation where everyone (regardless of their circumstances) has their second marriage in church
- It could give the impression to the general public that the Church is changing its teaching
- The Church should give moral guidance and not give the impression that divorce is okay
- Where do you draw the line? 2nd, 3rd, 4th marriage?
- There would be extra pressure on incumbents, making it more difficult for them to refuse people than it is now
- How can a bishop advise on say 100 or more cases per year, and have sufficient knowledge of each case?
Notices from the Area Dean:-
- There are two clergy vacancies on Diocesan Synod. Any clergy interested in standing or nominating someone, please contact Jonathan.
- Our next Synod which was fixed for February 8th 2001 will probably be postponed for about 4-6 weeks. Members will be given the new date in the next Deanery mailing.
- As there was such strong agreement in the meeting about the value of Marriage Preparation, Jonathan will put it on the Deanery agenda.
The meeting finished at 9.50pm.