Can a church refuse to let people use their sanctuary for a wedding? What would be some rules that a church might have that would govern this? Is the religion of the people getting married a factor?
Uh…yeah, obviously.
For example, it would be incredibly common for say, Catholic churches to require that one or both of the celebrants are members of that parish, that they’ve undergone the pre-marriage counselling the church requires, etc.
As noted, it is very common for churches to have rules about who can be married in them but some churches, especially non-denominational ones, do a decent side business hosting wedding ceremonies. Most real churches (as opposed to chapels set up specifically for weddings) do not have set rates in my experience but it is customary for someone in the wedding family to give a substantial donation to the church to host the wedding. That is even more expected when non-members are just using it for a one-off event. Ultimately however, churches are private organizations that can set their own rules about who can be married in them. Catholic churches are usually the most restrictive while most Protestant Churches will perform wedding ceremonies as long as at least one of wedding couple is a baptized Christian regardless of their current denominational status. Some of them will perform wedding ceremonies for almost anyone. The most common Protestant view is that is better for couples to get married inside a church rather than just running off to a Justice of the Peace or Las Vegas and they view it as an outreach service.
The above describes the most common American model but there are an infinite number of variations and restrictions on it depending on individual churches. I don’t know how it works elsewhere in the world except that the Catholic Church has a rather strict set of rules about who can be married in their churches no matter where you are.
Please remember that when people ask a question, it is often because they wish to learn something they do not know.
Churches are not halls that are regarded as public accommodations. They are private halls dedicated to the use of members. As Unpronounceable noted, it is pretty standard practice for Catholic churches to limit marriages to those in which at least one party is a member. (Typically, there is no charge to the couple for the use of the church, although there are exceptions.) There are churches (or chapels) which provide halls open to any couple, some (not all) of which seek a fee to offset janitorial expenses. I am not sure what rules govern such chapels in terms of permitting or denying use.
There are occasions, typically after fires or storms, in which one undamaged/less damaged church will offer the use of its building to another congregation whose building was damaged or destroyed. However, that would be a gesture of friendship that does not bring the use into the realm of public accommodation. The two congregations would have to work out the rules governing such use between themselves.
I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything…it’s just…well, if they didn’t have any rules, then the big, fancy places would never be able to do any of their own services there - at the very least they’d have to have some kind of scheduling system set up.
In the UK all the “recognised” churches do have rules, some more strict than others. The Catholic Church seems to have a rule that they will only marry Catholics but this is frequently worked around if only one partner is.
In Anglican churches, there is no requirement for either of the parties to be church-goers or even for them to live in the parish. They do have to attend a series of preparation meetings though. The Banns have to be read in both parties parishes.
Picturesque churches get a lot of people wanting to be married there. The priest in charge will schedule the weddings and priority will go to locals. A popular church may have a waiting list a year long or more which usually puts people off.
There is a required legal fee for marrying in a church. If you marry outside your own parish, it is £486 in 2015. This is set by the Church of England nationally. It may vary slightly for you depending on circumstances. A choir, bell ringers, flowers etc are all extra.
Yes. To pick just a few examples:
A Catholic church does not permit a marriage to occur on its grounds unless both of the parties to the marriage are baptized Catholics.
The bishop of the diocese may waive this requirement if only of the parties is a baptized Catholic.
No person who has received the sacrament of Holy Orders, or who has undertaken a public perpetual vow of chastity in a religious institute of pontifical right, may marry on the grounds of a Catholic church. Only the Pope may dispense with this requirement.
No person may marry, on the grounds of a Catholic church, anyone in their direct line of consanguity – that is, a person may not marry a son or daughter, grandson or grandaughter, or in the first degree of the collateral line, i.e., a niece or nephew.
Does the Catholic Church (or other churches in general, but specifically the Catholic Church) allow its chapel to be rented out to outside churches to hold weddings?
What about other kinds of outside religious services?
I can give a piece of an answer to the above question: It is common that many barely-observant Jews will show up only twice a year, for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so that the congregation’s own temple is way too small for the crowd. So an outside hall somewhere is rented to hold those services (which tend to go on all day long). Our small temple commonly rented the local Catholic parish chapel for the occasion. Maybe it’s good enough for them that Jews worship one of the right gods?
This might be outdated knowledge on my part, but I had heard that one of the parties in a Catholic wedding had to belong to the same parish as the church. Otherwise weddings gravitate to “prettier” church buildings.
And of course, the LDS has incredibly restrictive rules for temple services.
So if, say, a Catholic and a Jew choose to get married in a Catholic church, it requires a special dispensation from the local bishop? We had a family friend who entered into one such marriage. How common is that? It took a special dispensation for that to happen?
Anything could happen because there are no strict rules but the phrasing of your question sounds odd to my Protestant mind. Catholics generally don’t rent out their facilities to other groups for non-Catholic ceremonies like weddings (I am sure there are some exceptions) because the church space itself is considered integral to the Catholic Church and there are rules to follow when being allowed to marry in their church spaces.
The part of the question that sounds odd is “[Do certain churches] allow its santuary to be rented out to outside churches to hold weddings?”. For Protestants, the wedding is considered to be a singular event hosted by the church you have it in. You may or may not be able able to bring your own preacher/minister/priest depending on the church but that doesn’t mean you are transporting an outside church to their grounds. Most Protestant denominations give freedom of movement between different Christian denominations just by self-identification. If you want to be Methodist one week and Episcopalian the next, that is fine as long as you are sincere. If you want to have a wedding in a pretty Episcopal Church even though the only church you have ever attended is Presbyterian, that is a choice you can make at any time. Many Protestant churches and denominations do have confirmation classes that are required for full membership but not for basic attendance. Marriage ceremonies are generally covered as a service that are open to all Christians and sometimes anybody.
I got married in a beautiful non-denominational Protestant New England church that I never attended until a courtesy visit a few weeks before the wedding. We did have to go through a 1 hour interview about our background and prior religious affiliation (Methodist in my case and ex-Catholic for my ex-wife) and it wasn’t an issue.
my brother was married in a catholic church. They had a form that said if the bride was pregnant contact the bishop right away! I assume they would let the wedding go ahead . Did not apply in his case. He also did counseling before the wedding.
If a Catholic wishes to marry a non-Catholic canon law requires the Catholic to obtain a dispensation from the bishop, regardless of where the marriage is to be celebrated.
I got one myself. It was very straightforward. I have never heard of anybody being refused one, though I suppose policy and practice could vary from diocese to diocese.
As to the place of marriage, a Catholic marriage should generally be celebrated in the parish church of one or other of the spouses but, again, the bishop can dispense from this. I got this dispensation too.
So if a Catholic wants to marry a non-Catholic, and to celebrate the marriage in a non-Catholic ceremony, two dispensations are required. But common sense suggests they are sought, and granted, in one process, and this is what happened in my case.
It’s a dispensation , but it’s very common and easy to get. It’s almost a rubber stamp - I think the pastor had to fill out a form and send it to a diocesan office for mine but there wasn’t even any discussion about the possibility of the dispensation not being granted.
About which Catholic parish - by tradition, if both parties were Catholic, the wedding took place in the bride’s parish. The groom’s parish is also acceptable, and it is possible to obtain approval and be married in a third parish. In my experience, this only happens when the wedding is to take place at a location away from where the bride and groom reside (for example, if the bride and groom live in NYC but they want to get married in Pennsylvania where the groom’s family lives) or in situations where one of the parties grew up in a different local parish. I won’t say it can’t happen, but I’ve never seen a couple get married in a local parish that neither had some connection to.
It actually doesn’t sound so odd to me- but that’s because it’s not terribly uncommon around here to see two congregations of apparently different denominations sharing a church edifice. Presumably one congregation owns the building and the other is renting space.
In my church (Evangelical Lutheran) only members of the congregation have a right to use the church for a marriage ceremony.
In our case, a “member” is someone who is actually on the church’s membership roll. Which means their kids who moved away don’t have an automatic pass to use the church.
Non-members have to apply, sign a contract, and use the church’s wedding coordinator. We put that last part in because we had a couple of weddings where people trashed up the building, and we now want someone onsite that day. We don’t approve every request.
Our minister has his own guidelines on performing marriages. As a rule, he doesn’t officiate any weddings for non-members or people he doesn’t actually know.
In RC weddings, both parties must also be eligible per the church requirements to get married ie, neither party is divorced without obtaining a church annulment. There may still be some protestant churches who still have this rule as well. Although it is now legal, they won’t perform same sex weddings either.
A quick Google shows that at least one churchas recently as 2006 refused to perform interracial weddings. Interracial Couple Spurned - ABC News
Churches fall under the first amendment covering freedom of religion and can discriminate on that basis.
That would require two dispensations, actually.
Yes, the bishop would need to grant the permission for the marriage to take place in the church, and the bishop would also need to grant a dispensation to allow the marriage of an unbaptized person, which could only be done if the catholic party declares that he or she is prepared to resist defecting from the faith, and makes a sincere promise to do all in his or her power to ensure that any children are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church. The Jewish party would have to be informed of these promises in reasonable time before the wedding.
Of course. A church is private property. People just can’t walk in and use the facilities without permission. Just being willing to pay a fee isn’t going to trump the idea of private property. A store is explicitly open to all. A church is not.