The Ninth Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers took place from 3 to 6 April 2008, at Bishop's House, Sliema, Malta, and the meeting was graciously hosted by the Anglican contingent. The ten participants (five Anglican and five Roman Catholic) were: on the Anglican side, Norman Doe (Chair), Bishop Paul Colton, Mark Hill, Anthony Jeremy (all from the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff Law School) and Stephen Slack (Director of Legal Services at the Archbishops' Council, Church of England); and, on the Roman Catholic side, James Conn, Michael Hilbert, Aidan McGrath (all from the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University), Robert Ombres (Procurator General of the Dominicans) and Fintan Gavin.
The colloquia, held each year, treat a timely topic of canon law that is of interest to ecumenical relations. The topic this year was marriage. At each of the five substantive sessions, one Anglican and one Roman Catholic provided the pertinent legislation, theological and doctrinal foundation for the legislation, and areas of convergence and divergence. The sessions concluded with questions and discussion.
Session I, ‘Nature of marriage and right to marry’, was led by Stephen Slack and Robert Ombres. Slack spoke of the right to marry in English common law, statutory qualifications of the right to marry, the draft Church of England Marriage Measure, and the issue of impediments, while Ombres commented on the relevant canons in the Code of Canon Law and articles of the 2005 Instruction Dignitas Connubii, affirming the sacramental nature of marriage, the centrality of the marriage consent, the respective autonomy of churches to regulate the marriages of their members, and the requirements for the valid and licit celebration of the sacrament.
Session II, ‘Marriage preparation and solemnisation’, was addressed by Fintan Gavin and Anthony Jeremy. Gavin spoke on the preparation for marriage in an ecumenical context, based on his extensive experience in the matter: pastoral care; the obligations inherent in marriage preparation; the remote, proximate and immediate preparation; and the continued pastoral care after the wedding. Jeremy presented the Anglican legal framework for the solemnisation of marriage, providing the elements of formal preliminaries, the place and time of marriage, the celebrant and witnesses, and the rites and registration of marriage.
Session III, ‘Nullity, divorce, re-marriage, procedure’, was tackled by Bishop Colton and Aidan McGrath. Colton provided an exegetical-historical overview of the question of the re-marriage of divorced persons, with particular attention to the ecclesial and civil implications of divorce and re-marriage in the Church of Ireland. McGrath focused on the nullity of marriage – due to defect of form, impediments or defect of consent – from an ecumenical perspective. The impediment of prior bond and the invalid consent due to error and simulation were presented.
Session IV, ‘Special cases and civil partnerships’, concerned, from the Roman Catholic side (Michael Hilbert), the special marriage procedure for non-consummated marriages and the procedure for the dissolution of the bond in favour of the faith. From the Anglican side, Mark Hill addressed the question of civil partnerships in England and Wales, in light of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and its repercussions for Christian marriage, the nature marriage, pastoral considerations and constitutional problems.
Session V, ‘Mixed and interchurch marriages’, studied the Anglican (Norman Doe) and Roman Catholic (James Conn) norms for such marriages. Doe provided diocesan norms for England, Wales, Ireland, Canada and Australia, as well as the laws on interfaith marriages and bilateral considerations of sharing the eucharistic and religious upbringing of children, including the norms on interchurch marriage agreed by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in Canada. Conn clarified the canonical issues for mixed and interchurch marriages – doctrinal foundation, and the conditions and formalities applicable to these unions – basing his presentation on the current legislation, papal magisterium and the Ecumenical Directory.
The final two sessions of the colloquium were devoted to drafting an agreed statement and planning for future colloquia. The ‘Agreed Statement’, with sixteen points,Footnote 1 and three ‘Recommendations’ for the International Anglican and Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM),Footnote 2 gather together the fruit of our discussions and identifies areas of agreement with respect to the theological and doctrinal understanding of marriage, the natural right to marry, the essential elements and ends of marriage, the competence of ecclesial authority in regulating the celebration of marriage, the responsibility of pastors to care for engaged couples and newly married couples and families, the judicial investigation and decisions that must precede re-marriage in the church, and the special procedures to be employed in marriages with the non-baptised, among others.
The colloquium participants are greatly appreciative of the wonderful hospitality received during the days in Malta, and wish to thank Father Tom Mendel SSC, Chancellor of the Anglican Pro-Cathedral in Valletta for providing the non-academic parts of the programme (liturgical, culinary and cultural), and Father Jeff Williams at Bishop's House, Sliema for making the working sessions run so smoothly. The visit to the pro-Cathedral and the Catholic cathedral, the walk around the ramparts, and the excursion to Mdina will remain extraordinary memories of a pleasant and enriching encounter.
