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Quakers in Ireland agree to same sex marriages in their meetings for worship

By agency reporter
July 23, 2018

The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland issued the following  statement on 21 July 2018:

"The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland has agreed to the holding of same-sex marriages in Quaker meetings for worship, currently legal in the Republic of Ireland.

"If any Quaker Meetings, solemnisers or members do not wish to participate in meetings for worship for same sex-marriages as a matter of conscience, there is no obligation to do so. This is to facilitate the range of views held within the Society.

"The decision was reached at the Society’s Yearly Meeting – its annual conference – which took place in Limerick Institute of Technology from 18-22 July 2018.

"Quakers have a diversity of views on marriage between people of the same sex taking place in a meeting for worship because of the range of their theological, spiritual and biblical approaches but we are united through love for one another."

* Quakerism was introduced to Ireland by William Edmundson in 1654 and there are approximately 1,500 Quakers today in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

* Quakers in Ireland https://quakers-in-ireland.ie/

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