The Irish Bishops' Conference is to discuss a strongly-worded letter from church leaders in Croatia which criticises the behaviour of Irish "wedding tourists" to the country and suggests such weddings be discouraged.
The letter from the diocese of Dubrovnik states that most weddings of foreign nationals there are of Irish couples. But a number of couples and their invited guests do not go to Confession at all "and still go to receive Holy Communion," it says.
"Many of them do not observe an appropriate dress code, especially ladies," it continues.
Signed by Monsignor Ivan Simic, chancellor of the Dubrovnik diocese, the letter adds that it does not see any pastoral reasons for weddings in the city and diocese, "though they clearly advance the touristic promotions of certain wedding agencies".
"Very often, wedding candidates put our parish priests under a lot of pressure arranging wedding ceremonies and booking plane tickets and hotels before getting all the necessary wedding papers done, but if they want to get married it is hard to deny them," it states.
"We think that it would be very useful, for pastoral reasons, to 'discourage' those who want to get married outside their parishes, dioceses and country."
"If they persist in coming to be married in Dubrovnik in spite of your 'discouragement', please, ask from them, and we will insist also, that they bring a priest with them to perform the wedding."
A spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office confirmed that, as reported in the current edition of The Irish Catholic, Archbishop Seán Brady has received the letter,which is dated October 10th, 2006. It had been circulated to bishops here and the matter was due to be discussed at the March general meeting of the hierarchy.
"The letter highlights that the local Catholic Church in Dubrovnik has a clear preference for dealing with the local Catholic Church in Ireland in relation to marriage ceremonies," he said. "What seems to be the issue is that the marriage ceremony and the preparation for it is not receiving the appropriate level of attention that this significant sacramental event requires."
"It seems that wedding planners and travel agents appear to be treating the marriage ceremony as merely another element in the overall wedding package."
A spokeswoman for the Croatian embassy in Dublin said at least 40,000 Irish citizens visited Croatia in 2006, although this may be as high as 50,000. The embassy does not have official statistics for the number of Irish citizens who get married in Croatia. However, some indicators show approximately 30 couples may have done so last year.
"We welcome all visitors to Croatia and we leave the purpose of their travel to the individual choice," she said. "In Croatia, most couples get married in their hometown [mostly Church weddings] as a wedding is also a family gathering and then the newlyweds go on a honeymoon either in Croatia or abroad."