ESSEX clergy have voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing divorced people to re-marry in church.

At a meeting of the Chelmsford Diocesan Synod at Shenfield High School on Saturday only 28 of the 139 members present did not want to see the church rules changed.

Each diocese in the country is voting on a proposal to lift the ban on remarrying divorced people in church. A response is expected to be submitted by Easter and the findings will be reported to the House of Bishops before going to the General Synod in November.

Although it has been legal for divorcees to wed in churches for some time such services have always been contrary to Church of England rules.

However, clergy can choose whether or not to abide by the church regulations, without recourse, and already around 10 per cent of all marriage services held are for divorced people.

The Rt Rev John Perry, the Bishop of Chelmsford, said: "I am fully supportive for people to remarry in church but we need to have a policy in place in our rules to confirm this."

He pointed out the decision would not undermine the importance the church places on marriage: "Because we have voted in favour of this motion does not mean our views on marriage have weakened - it is the fundamental building block of today's society and family life.

"Marriage is a life time commitment but we appreciate that some marriages do breakdown and people want to re-marry and it is only right the church is seen to be compassionate."

The Archdeacon of Southend Canon David Lowman was on the panel appointed by the House of Bishops to conduct the three-year nation-wide consultation exercise to look into changing the rules.

He admitted to previously being against divorcees re-marrying in church but changed his mind while carrying out his study.

He said: "I spoke to a people who wanted to re-marry in church and those who had done so and decided I could in all conscience remarry them if the circumstances were right.

"Vicars can legally already do this already but the motion, if passed by the House of Bishops, will give a common policy between church law and English law."

But there were those against the proposals. Speaking at the meeting to oppose the motion Father Richard Seabrook, from the Rochford Deanery, said: "If we accept this we will be showing people that the Christian goal posts on the importance of marriage have changed."

The panel which performed the consultation exercise also put forward recommendations on how to introduce the new church law but the Synod voted, by a small margin, to reject these.

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