Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds pictured in the garden of 10 Downing Street after their wedding. Photo: CNS. The View
Hearing the news on Sunday morning June 6 that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds had been married privately in Westminster Cathedral, I wrongly assumed, for which apologies, that the RTÉ newsroom must have confused Westminster Cathedral with Westminster Abbey, which is Anglican. Given the strong stance of the Catholic Church over the years on the indissolubility of marriage, I found it hard to imagine them conducting Boris Johnson’s after he had been twice divorced. I further assumed that this was probably another example of laxity, or, to put it more politely, latitudinarianism in the Church of England, which has always had a certain difficulty with the subject of divorce, given that it was founded after Pope Clement VII excommunicated Henry VIII in 1533.
This was after Archbishop Cranmer, presiding over an ecclesiastical court, annulled Henry’s marriage to his first wife Katharine of Aragon and recognised as valid his next marriage to Anne Boleyn (only till 1536!). Henry could have been forgiven for thinking that the Papal refusal of annulment was political. The troops of the Emperor Charles V, Katharine’s nephew, had sacked Rome in 1527. Yet in 1498, when the King of France Charles VIII died, whose marriage with Anne de Bretagne had joined Brittany to the kingdom, his successor and cousin Louis XII with permission from Pope Alexander VI (Borgia) had his own marriage annulled, so that he could wed Anne for sound dynastic reasons, even if his legal case was no better than Henry’s. I had no objection to Boris Johnson marrying his fiancée in Church. Dislike of Brexit, or anything else he has done or stands for, should not be a factor. While he may superficially resemble other populist leaders, he is not in the same league as Donald Trump.
Concerns
However, I have two concerns, one from a Protestant point of view, and the other from a Catholic one. The rationale put forward, that Boris Johnson was baptised a Catholic, that his Anglican confirmation at Eton was immaterial, and that previous marriages, one of which produced four children, could be regarded as null from a Catholic perspective, since they were not conducted in a Catholic church and were without a special dispensation, is unlikely to be well received by other churches, particularly those with whom the English Catholic Church is in ecumenical relations. Is there no such thing as Christian marriage outside the Catholic Church? The rationale smacks of ‘the one true faith’, a belief rarely put on public display these days, but also highlights the existence of potential loopholes. Probably, the English, only a minority of whom belong to any religion, do not greatly care.
The decision was not made by the Irish Church. Nonetheless, the argument is that they would have had to make the same decision. There was a similar situation about 60 years ago in this country, when a divorced Catholic public figure, previously married to a Protestant, and with children, re-married in a Catholic church, his spouse a work colleague well-connected in Church and state. The attitude down the country at the time, rightly or wrongly, was that this would not have been allowed to ordinary people.
From 1937 to 1995, there was a constitutional ban on divorce. It did not apply to divorces obtained legally abroad, which allowed some latitude to better-off people including Protestants to shift their domicile temporarily offshore. Catholic nullity procedures, while stiff in their requirements, were marginally more flexible than state ones protecting the status of children. Catholic marriage tribunal decisions were not matters which the state disputed with the Church.
Acquainted
I am well acquainted with two people, living in England and Scotland, of Scottish Presbyterian and Church of England stock, both of whom at different stages of their adult lives decided to convert to Catholicism.
One was ordained rector of the principal church in a large and important English town, but he belonged to the wing of the Church of England that objected to the ordination of women, primarily for theological reasons, but also because it would be an obstacle to church unity. He resigned and became a teacher and later vice-principal of a Catholic secondary school. My view then was that there might be many good reasons to join the Catholic Church, but that an objection to the ordination of women was not one of them. Pope Francis in 2016 made the celebration day of St Mary Magdalene a feast day, as she was the first witness of the Risen Christ. He evoked St Thomas Aquinas’ tribute to her as ‘Apostle to the Apostles’, even if not one herself, something that could be drawn on, should a decision be taken to enlarge the role of women in the Church, for example, by opening up the diaconate.
Outflow
It is argued that liberalism has not halted the outflow of congregations in the Protestant churches. This is true, with one caveat. Some decisions may have been made for principled reasons, not just expediency. Equally, a more rigorous approach by the Catholic Church has not prevented a fall in membership, as graphically illustrated in Germany, where resignations are recorded, because of Church tax implications.
The other person, a convert to Catholicism, married in a Protestant church, and had children. The couple eventually divorced. He was remarried in a registry office. His second wife also became Catholic. At some point, at the bishop’s direction, in accordance with rules laid down, he was informed that as a remarried person after divorce he was not permitted to take communion at Mass. The Johnson wedding has aggravated a sense of grievance. In all churches, serious offence seems often to be more easily forgiven than breaches of Church rules.
Given how badly the Catholic Church was treated in England historically, satisfaction at a serving British Prime Minister being married in the Catholic Church is understandable. Ensuring a consistency of message that is humane in a deeply entangled world remains a difficult and ongoing challenge.