Marriage Care, the relationship counselling charity, may set up a
separate department for Catholic marriage preparation to avoid further
friction with the Church over its work with same-sex couples.
The plan is being offered by the charity's outgoing chief executive,
Terry Prendergast, as a way to continue what are seen by the Church as
conflicting roles.
Marriage Care has its roots in the Catholic Church
but in recent years has broadened its client base and developed into
Britain's second-biggest provider of relationship counselling.
Mr Prendergast says the charity has counselled both heterosexual and
gay couples and it offers preparation for "a trickle" of same-sex
couples entering civil partnerships.
The civil partnership cases have
strained the charity's relationship with the Catholic Church.
In
September, Marriage Care's president, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of
Westminster, warned the charity that it must conform to Catholic
teaching.