Couples who want to be married in a Catholic Church face more
rigorous vetting to ensure that they are fully committed to their faith.
And Catholic bishops will also introduce tighter controls of Mass cards to end rogue trading.
At
the end of their autumn meeting in Maynooth, Co Kildare, the heads of
Ireland's 26 dioceses announced that they have drawn up new
marriage-preparation regulations for implementation in each diocese.
The
document, "Criteria for Pre-Marriage Courses for the Sacrament of
Marriage" aims to improve the quality of pre-marriage preparation.
"These
criteria are intended to ensure that the full richness of the church's
pastoral care for marriage is promoted and built up," a statement from
the bishops said last night.
Bishops decided that any programme of
preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage should reflect, both in its
content and process, the Christian understanding of marriage and promote
a positive attitude towards marriage.
"Bishops hope that these
criteria will be understood as an opportunity for all providers of
courses of preparation for the sacrament of marriage to strengthen their
participation in the church's important work of supporting and
strengthening pre-marriage preparation," they said.
The bishops also discussed tighter controls of Mass cards to end rogue trading.
They
plan to publish support information to prevent abuses, and they will
ask priests to review personal and parish procedures to ensure that they
are fully compliant with the provisions of canon law.
"It is
important to be particularly vigilant to ensure that people's good faith
in asking to have a Mass offered for a particular intention would not
be exploited by others for profit," they said.
"Appearance of trafficking or profit-making from Mass offerings must be entirely avoided," the bishops said.
The
bishops' conference also reiterated that the practice of having signed
or stamped Mass cards for sale in shops and other commercial outlets be
stopped.
SIC: II/IE