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Information on Anglican/Roman Catholic marriages
Should you/Can you get married in an Episcopal Church?
The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage is an expression of Christian community in which a couple makes their vows before God and the Church, and the priest blesses the marriage on behalf of the Church. Marriage in church is, therefore, much more than a matter of mere form.
Churches are not marriage factories, and those who are not active members of an Episcopal parish should not assume that they will be able to marry in it. If you are from outside a parish in which you wish to get married, it is, therefore, very important that you do not announce a date for your marriage in one of our Churches until you and your future spouse have met with the priest and the suitability of the celebration of your marriage in our Church has been determined.
Normally, the clergy of the parish preside at the celebration of marriages in that parish. If you want another cleric to preside at your marriage, you must obtain the consent of the ecclesiastical authority of the parish--the rector, interim priest in charge, or churchwardens.
Our Church discourages weddings outside of the physical church building because having a wedding in a church asserts the importance of the Christian community in the marriage, while having it outside tends to diminish the role of the Church and to dilute its rules and traditions.
If you do get married outside the church building, you need to bear in mind that Canon law requires that your marriage be celebrated with the consent of the ecclesiastical authority of the parish (i.e. its rector, vicar, or priest-in-charge) within the boundaries of which it takes place, and recorded in that parish’s register.
Marriages are not traditionally celebrated in Advent and in Lent because these are penitential seasons during which times festal liturgies, such as weddings, are not appropriate. Diocesan policy is that weddings during Advent or Lent should only happen in the case of serious, pressing, compelling pastoral need.
Some years ago, the Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New York prepared a detailed discussion of the issues surrounding marriage, and the liturgies appropriate under different circumstances (e.g. inter-faith marriages, Roman Catholic-Anglican marriages).
It is important to understand that many of the funeral and embalming practices that have become common currency among Americans at large are totally at odds with Christian teaching. For this reason (more fully explained in the diocesan Liturgical Commission’s Concerning Funerals), Episcopalians should call their priest before the funeral director is called (ideally, by the priest). It is also assumed that in requesting the services of a priest of the Episcopal Church, families accept the discipline and worship of the church in which the priest is ordained to serve.
n the Episcopal Church, a funeral is primarily an act of worship, and the Book of Common Prayer Book states that "baptized Christians are properly buried from the church" (i.e. not from funeral establishments). Episcopalians should also bear in mind that the Prayer Book unequivocally states, "The coffin is to be closed before the service, and it remains closed thereafter." The three possibilities concerning the body and the funeral liturgy: first and best, to have the funeral with the uncremated body present; second, to have the funeral with the cremated remains present; third, under extraordinary circumstances, the funeral may be held with neither the body nor the ashes present.
While the corpse ought to be handled reverently, the resurrection of the body connotes transformation and new creation: efforts to preserve and enhance the mortal body, such as are provided by morticians, are unnecessary for Christians--who may also, and quite properly, opt for cremation. "Viewings" in the funeral home, moreover, are neither necessary nor required. Accordingly, Christians ought to choose simple burial and should hold vigils ("wakes") in the church.
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