ANGLICAN CHURCH TO LET DIVORCED PERSONS REMARRY

LONDON, England, Jul 11, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The governing body of the Church of England—the founding church of Anglican and Episcopal churches worldwide—voted yesterday to let divorced persons remarry within the Church. Some sources said the move would pave the way for Camilla Parker-Bowles, a divorcée, to marry Prince Charles, who is a widower and heir to the throne of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and several other Commonwealth countries. Within the UK, the monarch is “established” as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and lays claim to the title “Defender of the Faith,” although Prince Charles has said he prefers “defender of faiths.”  But the church’s second-highest-ranking cleric, David Hope, the Archbishop of York, said last month that the church was not about to shift its marriage rules to suit Charles. “It is not to accommodate the heir to the throne. The whole question of the marriage of divorcées has been on the church’s agenda for a very long time. And 18 months ago, the House of Bishops reiterated its commitment to the ideal of lifelong marriage, though recognizing that some marriages do fail, do die, because of human weaknesses.”  Others say the move is an attempt to preserve the church’s role in marriage, as people choose to marry in a non-church setting, without benefit of Anglican clergy.  To read Globe and Mail coverage see:  https://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=3&tf=tgam/common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20020710&dateOffset=&hub=international&title=International&cache_key=international&start_row=3&num_rows=1