Baptisms, Weddings & Funerals

Baptisms: We are always happy to baptise children who live in our area with their resident parents. An initial enquiry can be made through the local church warden, or directly to one of the chaplains. After an initial discussion with the child’s parents to ascertain a suitable date, time and venue, a home visit will be arranged in order to discuss the meaning of baptism and the service itself. This is likely to take place at one of our 8 churches, ideally on a Sunday morning, but occasionally elsewhere or at another time.

It may be possible to baptise those who live elsewhere, but who have grandparents who are resident here. This normally requires prior contact with the child’s home parish priest who will almost certainly wish to meet the family, and to agree for the baptism to take place here in Spain.

Weddings: The Chaplaincy is unable to offer a legally-binding marriage ceremony, which will have taken the form of a civil marriage either in the UK, or in Gibraltar, or in the couple’s local town hall in Spain. This may, however, be followed by a wedding blessing, normally in one of our 8 churches. The second event should follow the first, as soon as is conveniently possible. It is not possible to hold a wedding blessing for a marriage which has already taken place in church.

Those eligible for a wedding blessing will include at least one of the couple being resident here; or at least one of their parents. We are unable to provide this service for those with holiday homes, or parents with a holiday home, or for visitors just for the occasion. Whilst a prior divorce is not necessarily an impediment, we cannot perform a blessing for those unable to marry again in another Christian denomination; nor are we merely an English-speaking Church for those who are not Anglican.

Initial enquiries should be made either to one of the resident chaplains, or directly to our Reader, Stephen Carden (cardenstephen@yahoo.co.uk) who manages all such requests.
The circumstances of each couple are considered individually.

Funerals: The chaplains conduct large numbers of funerals, and try to offer a high standard of pastoral care to the bereaved.

When a loved one dies, the first contact with the tanatorio (funeral director) will be through hospital staff or the local doctor, who will ask where the deceased should be taken. Once this has occurred, relatives will go to the tanatorio to arrange the funeral, and will be asked if they would like a religious service. If this is the case, they should ask for an Anglican (Anglicano) priest, not Protestant (Protestante) unless they wish for a Free Church minister. The tanatorio staff will then contact one of the chaplains directly, in order to confirm availability at the preferred time. Following this, one of the chaplains will get in touch with the bereaved.

It is most important to note that it is not essential for the funeral to take place within 48 hours of the death. Several additional days may be obtained by the embalming of the deceased (automatic in the UK) enabling family and friends to make suitable travel arrangements. Families are sometimes concerned about where they will be able to find a priest: this is done quite simply by asking at the tanatorio.