PM wedding leaves me cold

I don’t wish to pour cold water on the joy of anyone – particularly when they are celebrating their nuptials.

But am I the only person who finds Boris Johnson’s third marriage to Carrie Symonds – blessed by the Catholic Church and concluded in secrecy at the weekend in the splendid settings of Westminster Abbey – to be a step too far?

Bozza has been a groom on two previous occasions. The fact he has got married a third time (and his former spouses are among the land of the living) suggests he hasn’t followed the vows he made on those previous occasions.

That being the case, what is the Catholic Church – a body I generally hold in high regard – doing giving such a ceremony the green light and defending its actions by stating it doesn’t recognise the two previous weddings?

Such a stance makes a mockery out of the sanctity of a Church wedding.

Don’t get me wrong, if Bozza and Carrie wish to tie the knot, that is their prerogative. But there are Register Offices that will perform a civil ceremony, enabling their union to be legalised. Surely the Church does not have to be involved in the matter?

I first came across this hypocrisy when a university friend of my wife’s married a twice-wed journalist at the wonderful Worth Abbey in Sussex. Similar arguments were used to justify the arrangement (eventually winning the day) and a glorious white wedding ensued.

A few years later, the same couple were divorced and our friend had found new love. Again, she wanted to cement things and planned a big, formal wedding – even though there was seemingly a sizeable obstacle in the way. But the Catholic Church didn’t disappoint, claiming not to have known about the former husband’s previous marriages when it originally sanctioned its approval. That out of the way, the path was clear for our friend to be remarried once again – at Worth Abbey – with all the trimmings of the quintessentially English occasion.

And so a second white wedding occurred, and no mention of the father of our friend's two sons (a product of the first union) was made.

Consequence

Although I attended both weddings, the church’s decision-making left me shaking my head. I was not judging my friend, nor her husbands. I was just dismayed that the world’s largest Christian denomination could ride roughshod over everything the Bible teaches on the holiness of marriage.

And today, I find myself feeling exactly the same emotions at the revelation Boris and Carrie have done the same thing.

Being a simple lad from the north of England, I believe making certain decisions in life has a consequence. Or I was always taught it should do.

And even though these days we are told by marketers and salespeople we can have anything we want the stark reality is we should only get one bite at some things – and a Church wedding is, in my humble opinion, one of them.

Charles Spurgeon said many memorable things in his lifetime. One of them, in summary, stated unbelievers do not read the Bible to learn about Christ – they watch Christian men and women carefully and learn everything they need to know from them.

That’s all well and good when we are doing the right things. But what about when we are doing the wrong things, things that put us in conflict with our beliefs, what does that say about us and the faith we uphold as 'the only way'?

Tony Yorke is Deputy Editor of Sorted magazine.