The General Synod of the Church of Ireland today debated a bill to bring Marriage liturgies into better harmony with the changed civil law of marriage in both jurisdictions.

Bill No. 2, in the name of the Archdeacon of Glendalough and the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, relates to recent legislation in both Northern Ireland and the Republic that has relieved the Church of the responsibility for the civil registration of marriages. No longer does the church issue marriage licences or keep the civil registers. This has implications for the marriage service, particularly relating to the wording in the early part of the service and for much of the attached notes in the Book of Common Prayer. A further issue has arisen in the Civil Registration Act, 2004 in the Republic of Ireland which requires the couple to make a verbal declaration of no civil impediment before the solemniser and the two witnesses to the marriage either prior to the marriage or at the time of the service.

The bill therefore seeks to amend the services to take account of these changes.

Proposing the report, Venerable Rountree said 'This new procedure renders an amount of detail in Marriage One & Two obsolete and this bill amends the services to fit the new situation, by removing unnecessary material and making some minor amendments to text.'

The wording of the statements by the minister to the congregation and the couple regarding lawful impediments in the existing services are no longer appropriate and the bill proposes to remove them and replace them with more applicable words and rubrics. All notes which deal with the calling of banns etc would now also be removed.

While it is possible in the Republic of Ireland to administer the declarations of no civil impediment up to 48 hours before the marriage provided it is in the presence of the solemniser and the two witnesses to the wedding, experience would suggest that the more normative place for the declarations to be made is at the time of the marriage itself and provision is made for this to happen.

During this past year, since the Resolution stage of the Bill, agreement has been reached with the Registrar General of the Republic of Ireland for a simpler wording for the declaration of no civil impediment by the couple and a further amendment by the proposers of the Bill is tabled to include this simpler wording in the form of service. The agreed new wording is:

I solemnly declare that I do not know of any civil impediment to my proposed marriage with....

A further amendment by the proposers is tabled to meet the wishes of last year's debate that an additional rubric be inserted to emphasise the couple's responsibility to produce a Marriage Registration Form (RI) or a Schedule of Marriage (NI) to the officiating priest before a marriage can take place.

The Bill passed its second reading and is now clear for its third reading on Sunday.