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Ecclesiastical Case Reports
Re Christ Church, Waltham Cross
(St Albans Consistory Court: Bursell Ch, May 2001)
Stations of the cross - legality
Christ Church, Waltham Cross is a Grade II listed church built in 1833. A petition by the incumbent, supported by the DAC, was made to introduce 15 stations of the cross in contemporary style. There was one objector, whose objection was in informal but impassioned tones. The chancellor took the opportunity to deliver a full judgment, as there was no decision on the legality of the stations of the cross in the diocese and no fully reported decision since 1963. Halsbury's Laws summarises the position that, as decorations, the stations of the cross are not intrinsically unlawful. A faculty will only be granted where there appears to be no danger of their becoming objects of 'superstitious reverence'. He stated that there was nothing intrinsically illegal in the introduction of stations of the cross, and that absent any evidence to the contrary the court ought not to assume that superstitious reverence may be paid to the stations during private devotions (adopting Re St John the Evangelist, Chopwell [1995] Fam 254). Care was to be taken to emphasise that the scenes depicted as occurring in St Albans were symbolic and not historical. The chancellor granted the faculty until further order.
[JG]
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