Attorney - General's office says... the NATIONAL church body is the relevant authority in relation to the Marriage Act.

 

I told those Sydney Anglicans that submission was a grey area...I mean does the bride submit the way Sydney Anglicans do ...or does she submit the way the National Church does?

Anglican marriages conducted in Sydney may be illegal in the eyes of the law, according to the federal Attorney-General.

The head of the Anglican Church in Australia has also suggested the changes made to the marriage vow by the Sydney diocese may be in question under canon law, and may have to be thrashed out in a national church tribunal.

In a written statement sent to the Herald, the primate's office said of the new 'submit vow'...while there were provisions under church law for a bishop of a diocese to authorise deviations from the existing wedding service while waiting for a canon, the changes must not contravene existing doctrine for the church to recognise the ceremony as sufficient, as it applies to the Marriage Act.

Whether the substitution of the word ''obey'' with ''submit'' in the new service was, in fact, a departure from doctrine would be something a church court would have to decide.
''Submit'' has never been used in any version of the marriage vow since the Book of Common Prayer came into existence in 1662.
''The questions that have been raised about the legality of the proposed new service in Sydney are important,'' the statement said.
''I think they could only be settled definitively by a formal legal process, probably involving the Appellate Tribunal of the national church.''
The Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, the chairman of the liturgical panel that changed the service, yesterday described the uncertain legality over the vow as a ''beat-up issue''.
However, the Office of the Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, said under the church's constitution, the normal process would be for the diocese to seek a canon from the national church's General Synod.
This appears to be backed by the Attorney-General's office, which confirmed yesterday

''Under the Marriage Act, ministers of religion may use any form and ceremony recognised as sufficient for the purpose by their religious organisation, in this case the Anglican Church of Australia.''

Hey Barney... I can't wait until Sydney Anglicans return the human race to the ice-age...that'll prove the Theory of Evolution is a fallacy .
Yeah Merv... We need some comedians... I wonder if  hell will freeze over when they arrive?