Member-only story
Thinking about marriage in the light of God
Ninth in a series on love and marriage…
I served as bishop for the Episcopal Church congregations scattered across Europe from 2001 to 2019. One real headache my Stateside colleagues didn’t have to deal with is that every country has different laws concerning churches. And some very different customs as well. The question for our folks was what they had to do legally, and how much the local customs needed to be included in their congregation’s daily life.
For example, in Belgium the king pays the clergy. In Italy and Germany our churches are non-profit corporations because we are not on the list of “official” churches. In Switzerland they are “foundations”. And so on.
One thing that also differed from church life in the United States is marriage. In the US clergy can serve as agents of the State as well as liturgical leaders for a couple getting married. The couple has to go the county courthouse to get a marriage license, which the clergyperson signs after the wedding and mails back to the courthouse (or risk a fine).
In Europe every country requires a “civil marriage” before “the religious ceremony”. In fact, it is illegal for the church wedding to take place before the city hall ceremony. My marriage to Hélène started at the mairie (city hall) of the city of Antony south of Paris, with the…
