The Catholic bishops are to gather in Maynooth this week for their summer meeting. It will be the first time they do so collectively since the same-sex marriage referendum on May 22nd. The referendum, which they opposed and in which more than 62 per cent of the electorate voted Yes, is expected to be discussed.
In particular they are likely to consider whether priests should continue to perform civil aspects of weddings.
In April, the bishops' spokesman Martin Long said that if marriage were extended to same-sex couples, the church might no longer perform the civil aspects of weddings.
According to the Central Statistics Office, 13,072 – or 59 per cent – of the 22,045 marriages registered in 2014 were at Roman Catholic marriage ceremonies.
For a wedding to be legally recognised it must be solemnised by a person on the register of civil solemnisers.
About 4,121 of the 5,461 people on the register in Ireland are Catholic priests, with just 107 civil registrars.
Significant delays
A move by the
Catholic Church
to discontinue the current arrangement would result in significant delays for couples in getting marriages legally recognised.
At present, the signing of the marriage registration form – a civil document required by the State in order to recognise a marriage – takes place after the wedding Mass.
The solemniser, in this case a priest, and the witnesses must all sign the marriage registration form, which is issued by a local registrar.
On completion it must be returned to a registrar before a marriage certificate can be obtained.
If the church were to carry through on its threat to bring the current practice to an end, it would mean that couples will not be married officially at a church ceremony in the eyes of the State.
The stance articulated by Mr Long was a reaffirmation of a warning contained in the bishops’ submission to the Constitutional Convention in 2013. Then they said that any change to the definition of marriage would mean the church could no longer co-operate with the civil aspect of marriage ceremonies.
Mr Long confirmed prior to the referendum that this was still the bishops’ position, stating: “This was the last public authoritative intervention. Nothing has changed since then.
“If the referendum is passed the church’s view and the State’s view of marriage will be radically different. It’s reasonable that the bishops may decide to separate the two.”
