Catholic Church officials in Croatia have hit out at so-called Irish ‘wedding tourists’ who are travelling there to get married and have strongly suggested that the Irish bishops actively discourage this trend.According to a report in The Irish Catholic, Croatian officials have sent Irish bishops forthright correspondence criticising the behaviour of couples coming to get married.
The letter, from the Diocese of Dubrovnik to the Irish Bishops, refers to a number of "pastoral problems" caused by Irish couples seeking to get married in the city. Among these are Croatian priests being pressured by couples to get married at short notice, without the proper papers and little or no preparation by the couple involved.
In particular, the letter refers to guests, mainly women, who dress inappropriately in church when attending these weddings. The letter also refers to a lack of awareness of and respect for the rules on receiving Holy Communion.
The letter also hits out at Irish people coming for church weddings in Croatia who never attend Confession or have no contact with their parish priests back in Ireland.
No pastoral reason for weddings in Dubrovnik exists, according to Msgr Ivan Simic, the Chancellor of Dubrovnik, who signed the letter. However, he said '"hey clearly advance the touristic promotions of certain wedding agencies."
A spokesman for the Irish Bishops’ Conference confirmed that the letter had been received by Archbishop Seán Brady and circulated to the other bishops. It is expected to be discussed at the March General Meeting of the Hierarchy.
The Chancellor added: "Very often wedding candidates put our parish priests under a lot of pressure arranging wedding ceremonies and booking plane tickets and hotels before getting all the necessary papers done, but if they want to get married it is hard to deny them."
Msgr Simic goes on to tell the Irish bishops, "We think that it would be very useful, for pastoral reasons, to discourage those who want to get married outside their parishes, dioceses and country."
Croatian officials may now ban couples who do not bring an Irish priest to perform their wedding ceremony. "If they persist in coming to be married in Dubrovnik in spite of your discouragement (the Irish Bishops), please, ask from them, and we will insist also, that they bring a priest with them to perform the wedding and be a witness at the ceremony," the letter goes on.
However, Smilja Lombardic of Concord Travel, which organises weddings in Dubrovnik says that they’ve encountered no problems with Church officials.
"We organise the papers months ahead with the parish in Ireland and they get in touch with the Bishop in Dubrovnik."
Miss Lombardic said that they host 10-15 weddings a year and that it becoming a popular location to get married. “It is very scenic and nice, and works out cheaper abroad.''
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