ABSTRACT
In 1966, in a letter to the innocent party in a divorce suit who wanted to be remarried in church, Archbishop Ramsey maintained the Church’s official position, as stated in the 1957 Act of Convocation. He said that divorced persons whose former spouses were still living could not be married in church but that the clergy could offer help in the forms of prayers in church for the couple. Ramsey added that the sacraments need not be denied to divorced and remarried spouses if they wished to ask for them. 1 Ramsey’s letter reflects a central concern for the Church in the debate over the remarriage of divorced persons: Whether or not the Church of England officially denied remarriage in church to those who had legally ended their marriages, the bishops and the clergy still had to respond to Anglicans who were divorced and remarried. The clergy frequently found themselves caught between two competing obligations. They should maintain the discipline of the Church, but they should also administer pastoral care to their parishioners.
