India’s Syro-Malabar synod allows civil marriage before Church wedding

UCA News reporter

A Syro-Malabar couple makes their marriage vows. (photo: Sean Sprague/cnewa.org)

The Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church in India has conditionally allowed Catholic couples to have civil marriage before solemnizing it in the Church.

This is not for everyone. It is meant for those who live abroad or who want to move abroad with their prospective life partner,  said Father Abraham Kavilpurayidathil, the Church's chancellor told UCA News. Oct. 20.

Catholics, who for serious reasons such as obtaining a family visa to foreign countries find it necessary to register their marriages under relevant civil law before sacramental marriage can apply seeking permission for such registration, said a decree issued by Cardinal Geroge Alencherry, the major archbishop and head of the Church.

Indian laws allow a couple to move abroad as husband and wife only if their marriage is registered with the civil authorities. 

Couples who get married in the Church later register with civil authorities to start the process of moving abroad.   

Many come for short holidays from abroad and may not have enough time to register their marriages with civil authorities. Thus, the Church permitted them to register their marriages with civil authorities even before they are solemnized in the Church, the chancellor explained.

The Church's decree dated Sept. 21 and released to media on Oct. 19 said the Synod of Bishops approved the move during their Aug. 21-26 meeting in Kochi, the Church's base in southern Kerala state.

The applicants' written request carry the undertaking that they will not live together, being aware of the sinfulness of cohabitation before the sacramental marriage and that they will get marriage sacramentally solemnized at the earliest possibility, the decree said.

In addition, the request shall also carry the signatures of both the bride and the bridegroom, it insisted.

The bishop will issue the permission based on the letter from the parish priest, it said.

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church with more than five million followers is one of the 22 Eastern rite Churches in full communion with the Vatican. It has 35 dioceses in India and abroad.

It is certainly a well-appreciated move, said Cheriyan Joseph, a Catholic leader based in Kanjirapply diocese in Kerala where the Church is headquartered.

Unless the Church changes as per the requirements of time, it is difficult to keep youngsters with the Church, said Joseph, who has a son staying in Canada.

Kerala, with a population of 33 million and with 18 percent Christians, has recorded massive migration by youngsters for higher studies and jobs to Western nations. 

According to reports, more than 3 million people from Kerala live abroad and Christians lead the pack.

India's apex bank – Reserve Bank of India – in a recent survey said, Kerala accounts for about 19 percent of inward remittances coming to India, the highest among India's 28 provincial states.

The Catholic Church in India consists of three rites of Latin; Eastern Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara.

The other two rites are yet to openly accept civil marriage before sacramental marriage.