Clergy (Ordination and Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1964
1964 No. 6
A Measure passed by the National Assembly of the Church of England to amend the law relating to the qualifications for Holy Orders and to the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priests and Deacons; and to amend the law relating to the revocation of licences granted to Ministers and to the occupations of Ministers.
[10th June 1964]
Part I
Ordination
1. Qualifications for office of Deacon.
— (1) [ Subject to the provisions of section 1 ( 2 ) of the Deacons ( Ordination of Women ) Measure 1986 ] no Bishop shall admit any person into Holy Orders except such person on careful and diligent examination, wherein the Bishop shall have called to his assistance the Archdeacons and other Ministers appointed for this purpose, be found to possess a sufficient knowledge of Holy Scripture, of the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church of England as set forth in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal, and fulfils the requirement as to learning and other qualities which, subject to any directions given by the Convocation of the Province, the Bishop deems necessary for the office of Deacon.
(2) Section four of the Ordination of Ministers Act 1571, is hereby repealed. 2. Ordination to priesthood in 24th year of age.
It shall be lawful for the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant a Faculty to a person over the age of twenty-three years to be admitted a Priest in any Diocese in either Province and to preach and administer the Sacraments although such person has not attained the full age of twenty-four years, and accordingly in section one of the
Clergy Ordination Act 1804, after the words
“ four and twenty years compleat ” there shall be inserted the words
" unless being over the age of twenty-three years he hath a Faculty from the Archbishop of Canterbury " .
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8. Illegitimacy no impediment to orders.
No person shall be refused ordination as deacon or priest or consecration as bishop on the ground that he was born out of lawful wedlock.
[ 9. Effect of certain remarriages on admission into Holy Orders.
— ( 1 ) Unless a faculty has been granted by the archbishop of the province in pursuance of a Canon made under subsection ( 2 ) of this section, a person — ( a )
who has remarried and, the other party to that marriage being living, has a former spouse still living, or
( b )
who is married to a person who has been previously married and whose former spouse is still living,
shall not be admitted into Holy Orders.
( 2 ) It shall be lawful for the General Synod to make provision by Canon for empowering the archbishop of a province, on an application made to him by the bishop of a diocese, to grant a faculty to the bishop for admitting into Holy Orders a person who otherwise could not be so admitted by reason of subsection ( 1 ) of this section. ]
Part II
Miscellaneous Provisions
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11. Occupations of Ministers.
— (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections twenty-eight to thirty-one of the
Pluralities Act 1838 and section one of the
Trading Partnerships Act 1841 it shall be lawful for any Minister holding any Preferment or Benefice or any Curacy or Lectureship or who shall be licensed or otherwise allowed to perform the duties of any ecclesiastical office whatever to engage in trades or occupations other than the trades and occupations authorised by the said sections and without the restrictions imposed thereby, provided that he holds a licence so to do from the Bishop of the Diocese in which he holds office, which the said Bishop may grant subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) of this section.
(2) The Bishop may grant such a licence as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section only after consultation with the Parochial Church Council of the Parish, if any, in which such Minister holds or is about to hold office, or may refuse such licence only after consultation with the said Council, if any, and with the Ministerial Committee of the Diocese constituted under the provisions of the Incumbents (Disability) Measure 1945: Provided always that if the Bishop of the Diocese shall refuse such a licence, the Minister may within one month after such refusal appeal to the Archbishop of the Province who shall confirm or overrule such refusal as shall appear to him good and proper and whose decision shall be final.
Part III
General
12. Provisions during vacancy of a See.
During a vacancy of the see of a bishop:
— (a)
any reference to the bishop in . . .
. . .
in section eleven of this Measure shall be deemed to be a reference to the archbishop of the province in which the diocese of the bishop is situate; and
(b)
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the proviso to subsection (2) of section eleven of this Measure shall not apply.
13. Extent.
This Measure shall extend to the whole of the Provinces of Canterbury and York except the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man:
(a)
this Measure may be applied to the Channel Islands as defined in the
Channel Islands (Church Legislation) Measures 1931 and
1957, or either of them, in accordance with those Measures; and
(b)
if an Act of Tynwald so provides, this Measure shall extend to the Isle of Man subject to such modifications, if any, as may be specified in such Act of Tynwald.
14. Short title.
This Measure may be cited as the Clergy (Ordination and Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1964.
