The Diocese of Montreal has a “Protocol for Use” of the rite for the blessing of Civil Marriage. All of which is a euphemism for blessing same-sex unions. You can read the “Protocols” on page 2 here:
‘The marriage vows should not be repeated’
There is an intimate relationship between the vows of marriage and prayers of blessing which may follow them, even when there is a considerable interval of time between the two events.Nothing that is done in the blessing of a civil marriage should reflect negatively on the original exchange of vows. The blessing of a civil marriage is not a second marriage. The marriage vows should not be repeated.
It is pretty clear that the intent is to ratify in a Christian – or at least Anglican – setting the sexual union of same-sex partners. That liberals in the Anglican Church would like to actually marry same-sex couples is beyond doubt. They must think the timing is not quite right: that the average Montreal Anglican is not quite “ready”; that to do so would finally push parishioners over the edge; that conservatives haven’t quite all left yet. Thus, for the moment, we have “Protocols of Use”.
So whatever you do, don’t repeat the marriage vows. I did once, but I think I got away with it; yes, this is a farce.
“Nothing that is done in the blessing of a civil marriage should reflect negatively on the original exchange of vows. The blessing of a civil marriage is not a second marriage. The marriage vows should not be repeated.”
This is utter nonsense! The civil marriage is nothing more than a contract and has nothing Spiritual about it. These is no “exchange of vows” in a civil marriage. Only merely a statement of the legal “considerations” that each party of the contract is giving. It is most certainly not an Act of God in which God joins a man to his Wife. Only the administration of the Sacrement of Holy Matrimony is a true and Spiritual Marriage.
For the record, My Wife and I do not have a marriage license. We do have a Marriage Certificate.