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A Letter from the Parish Priest Contact details for our parish priest: For all queries about weddings, baptisms, funerals or other pastoral needs please contact the Revd Jonathan Smithurst, The Rectory, Abbey Road, Mattersey, Doncaster, DN10 5DX. Telephone 01777-817364. His day off is Friday. |
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Dear Friends, BISHOP OF SOUTHWELL & NOTTINGHAM The Right Revd Paul Butler has now officially taken up his role as the new Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham. Bishop Paul was announced as the new Bishop for the diocese in June last year, when he spent the day touring the area and meeting people on an old Nottinghamshire double-decker bus. Bishop Paul returns to this area with many local connections, having spent three years studying at the University of Nottingham and then time working in the county with social services. After experience in a number of parishes in London and in Chelmsford Diocese he was appointed as the Bishop of Southampton in 2004 where he has been responsible for the southern area of the Winchester Diocese with particular interest in youth and children’s ministry and urban issues. Let us pray for the Lord’s blessing upon Bishop Paul as he leads this diocese into he future that God has prepared for us. Yours in Christ Jonathan |
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Change in Law regarding Marriage
One of the pleasures of my role as a parish priest is that I have the opportunity to conduct weddings – it is a privilege to share in the joy of a couple on their wedding day.
There has recently been a change in the law concerning marriage in the Church of England. Previously the law established a right for a couple to marry in the Church of England church in the parish where one or both of them live, whether they are churchgoers or not. To marry in any other parish required a special licence or six months of regular church attendance followed by entry on the local church electoral roll.
The changes add to the condition of residence and mean that an engaged couple are welcome to be married in church in a parish if just one of the following applies:
· one of them was baptised or prepared for confirmation in the parish;
· one of them has ever lived in the parish for 6 months or more;
· one of them has at any time regularly attended public worship in the parish for 6 months or more;
· one of their parents has lived in the parish for 6 months or more in their child’s lifetime;
· one of their parents has regularly attended public worship there for 6 months or more in their child’s lifetime;
· their parents or grandparents were married in the parish.
For further information, please do feel free to contact me.
Jonathan Smithurst
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| To contact our parish priest: |
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For all queries about weddings, baptisms, funerals or other pastoral needs please contact: Revd. Jonathan Smithurst, The Rectory, Abbey Road, Mattersey, Doncaster, DN10 5DX. Telephone 01777-817364. His day off is usually Friday.
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