Some of you were in church a few months ago when I announced the banns for a young couple in our congregation. I told you that it was the first time I had done so in 31 years of ministry and then I explained to the gathered what was up. The prospective bride and groom are both church attenders, and neither had been married before, so I could announce on several occasions prior to their wedding what their intentions were and then they could receive a marriage license without cost from the provincial government.
I never told the congregation that it didn't work. Heaven knows I tried. I went to the municipal office and told the clerk what I wanted. It turned out that the banns were announced for her wedding, many moons before, but in all the years she had been doing the job no one had ever inquired. Eventually she directed me to the office of the marriage registrar in Thunder Bay. I was required to fill out a form which included my "secret code" marriage number and fax it to them. I did so many weeks before the wedding, but no license arrived. I finally reluctantly advised the couple to go and purchase one which they graciously did.The Monday morning after the wedding a fat package arrived with a whole bunch of the necessary forms, so I now have enough to marry the host of couples who will never ask for the banns.
I guess its a sign of the times that first-time couples who go to church are about as rare as the proverbial hens teeth. After I announced the banns the first Sunday a lot of people told me that this was how they got their license. Not today. And here was my shot at doing a couple a favour and the bureaucracy caused my plans to crash and burn.
Did you know this option existed? Were the banns read for your wedding? What is your take on why this doesn't happen anymore?
4 comments:
The Banns were read for our wedding, 20 years ago this July. They were read at St. Paul's and were supposed to be read at the church we were being married in. Unfortunatley, that minister didn't read the banns, nor did he get the necessary paper work. So we too had to go and get a license, only days before the wedding. I guess it is a sign of the times, but it shouldn't be that difficult. It's easy enough to get a license at city hall, so why not the bann forms through the registrar's office in Thunder Bay? Who knows, you might be surprised, another couple may come forward and want their bans read. As the tween in our house likes to say when she quotes Justin Beiber, "Never say Never"!
Yes, we knew this option existed and had our banns read at Tyrone United church 38 years ago. Our eldest daughter had their banns read by Nancy Knox 9 years ago, the last weddding Nancy performed at St. Paul's. I believe three weeks in a row was the minimum number of times to read the banns aloud. It may be a matter of couples not knowing this option exists. It certainly sounds like you did all you could to make it happen for them, however, as so often happens bureaucracy got in the way.
Thanks for your reminiscences Nancy and dmy. Hey, they was a positive outcome. One of the new pastors in town who moved here from the States phoned and asked for help with publishing the banns. He had very old forms, and I could give him new ones, hot off the press!
Just one more thing I dislike about our government. They are protecting their jobs by creating more and more paper to push.
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