Church of England and Catholic Weddings
Dear Reverend,
My fiance is Roman Catholic and I am Anglican. We are planning to get married in the Catholic church in Morocco but will also need to be legally married in the UK. The Catholic priest has advised we should get married in the registry office in the UK first, before coming to Morocco. However, I would strongly prefer to get married in an Anglican church - but the Catholic priest may not recognise this wedding and may refuse to marry us in Morocco...
Would it be possible to have our legally-binding wedding in the Anglican church in our parish in the UK, upon our return from Morocco, after getting married in the Catholic church? Could we do it the other way around, from your prespective, assuming the Catholic priest accepts this?
Thanks very much for your assistance,
Kind regards
Comments
Hi Erica
As far as I'm aware a Catholic Priest is not officially a registrar - that's certainly the case in this country - so a registrar would have to be present to make the marriage legal. So I'm assuming that the ceremony you'll have in Morocco will be a religious ceremony/ Blessing rather than a marriage.
If you live in the UK you can certainly go to your local Anglican church (or any church with which you have a qualifying link) and ask for a marriage service. Anglican Priests ARE registrars and the marriage will then be legal. Obviously we then pray for you and ask God's blessing upon your lives which wouldn't be included in a Civil Ceremony.
Your Priest can't really refuse accept that you are legally married but he may still feel that he needs to pray for you and ask God's blessing upon your union - but that is presumably what you are looking for from him. I hope this helps
Kind regards
Jan