Irish Church and Government clash over gay-marriage vote

Priests will be withdrawn from their role as registrars of civil marriage if the country votes in favour of gay marriage in a referendum next month, the Irish Church has threatened.

Such a move could lead to couples needing to be married in separate church and state ceremonies, as is the case in some other European countries.

The removal of up to 4,000 priests from the state’s roll of Marriage Solemnisers was raised this week by a spokesman for the bishops, who reiterated their warning about withdrawal made during a constitutional convention last year. In their submission on marriage made to the convention, the bishops stated: “If there were two totally different definitions of marriage, the Church could no longer carry out the civil element.”

Some 13,000 couples out of a total of 22,000 marry in a Catholic church each year. There are just 107 civil registrars, with the state relying heavily on the country’s priests to perform this function.

Responding to the bishops’ warning, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, this week told RTE News that it is a matter for the Church to determine whether or not to continue solemnising marriages for the state.

The bishops’ Council for Marriage and the Family was expected to discuss the issue at a meeting this week while no formal decision will be taken until the hierarchy meets on 8 June, two weeks after the referendum.

However, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, appears to have been less forthright about following through on the boycott, with his spokesman telling The Irish Times that the archbishop’s view is that you “cross bridges when they come”.

Meanwhile, former President Mary McAleese has called for a “yes” vote in the referendum, describing same-sex marriage as a “human-rights issue”, and Brendan Butler, of We Are Church Ireland, wrote in a letter to a newspaper this week that “many Catholics, including priests – maybe even a bishop – will welcome our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to enjoy the same status regarding civil marriage”.