[Magdalen] Conscience's clause

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Unlike some other countries, the USA does not have an established church at
all. The Episcopal Church has been a sort of defacto established church,
but without any of the legal constraints generally appertaining thereto (I
always love to write that kind phrase in an email, don't you?).

Religious functionaries are not associated with, nor beholden to, the
gummint. That eliminates a few potential problems. A religious functionary
can decline to marry any persons, and there can be various reasons. In some
responsible denominations, they may be obligated to report something about
the event to their superior.

The highest defacto authority in TEC is the diocese in most cases, and in
most dioceses a great deal of that power rests with the bishop, for good or
for ill. If one goes from one diocese to another, you will find that they
do things in very different ways.  This is hardly a matter of evil versus
good but a matter of responding to the local customs and needs. Every
parish handles it a bit differently, due to the experiences and background
of the people involved.

One of the first things a rector did just a few years ago at my former
parish was to call together a group to form a wedding "customary," which
formally enumerates how weddings are to be requested, planned and the
financial agreements, together with a spelled out description of the
expected time money should change hands, who must be paid, how much, etc. I
was on the committee. It was an interesting process -- especially so since
we had apparently done without for over 280 years.

One reason we did not need such a customary was that back in the day, the
wardens and vestry ran a lot of the town, and the mayor and chief of police
were staunch friends (always in the front pew at the big services of
Christmas and Easter whether they happened to be TEC members or not).
People getting married at this parish were usually Somebody (Brits, think
like earls or lords), so they would never clear their throats, let alone
get married without paying everybody what was expected by the unwritten
rules. And if anyone did run out on a bill, they were tracked down and
counseled about giving unto Caesar what was Caesar's and unto God what was
God's. Now that we're just another church (2 Sam 1.25), there is an
increase of people who just want to be married in the church because it's a
pretty building, not because of the way the Gospel is lived out there.
Such people do not think it a big thing to run off from paying the fee for
the rent of the hall (for so it is to them), so formal obligations have to
be agreed to in advance.

Discussions on this forum have revealed how very differently each parish
handles this.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 2:56 AM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com>
wrote:

>  Hi Martin!
>
> It's been fascinating to me over the years to learn  just how different
> "Anglican" churches are in the different Provinces and nations. In
> particular, the Episcopalian Church which has an interesting history due to
> the "late unpleasantness" of the Georgian era between the nascent USA and
> the English erstwhile rulers (amongst other reasons).
>
> Australia, also represented here, is different too but not in the same way!
>
> I think many people have come to the conclusion that an Established church
> does no favours to either Church or State.
>
> Sally D
>
> On Tuesday, June 30, 2015, Zephonites--- via Magdalen <
> magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>
> > As TEC is part of the Anglican Communion as is the C of E church, I
> assumed
> >  a similarity with the UK
> >
> >In England, I am required by law to marry anyone who lives in my  parish
> >who is single or a widower/widow - or at least allow my church to be used
> >for such a marriage, provided they are p
> ​r​
> epared to go through the Christian
> >marriage service prescribed. Although I
> ​[act]
>  as a Registrar in such matter,
> >a
> ​
> Registrar cannot marry people in a C of E church unless he is a Church of
> >England cler
> ​ic
> . In other words, if the Vicar forgets and the Registrar
> ​
> ​
> is
> >one of the guests at the wedding, the Registrar can't step in and take the
> >wedding!!
> >
> > However if someone has been divorced, if I
> ​-​
> - as the vicar
> ​ -​-
> do not agree
> > with marrying divorcees in Church
> ​,​
> I can use a conscience clause to say no
> > and not allow my church to be used either.
>