First civil communion requested

RINCON de la Victoria Town Hall has already received its first request from a local woman who wishes to hold a civil communion for her daughter in 2016.

The new ceremonies, which were only announced last week, will provide families with a way to celebrate their offspring’s passing from childhood to pre-teen years with none of the religious aspects of the traditional Catholic first communion youngsters usually have in Spain.

Dolores Diez, a self-declared atheist, is the first person to have requested one of the promised civil ceremonies for her eight-year-old daughter.

“I’m not bringing her up within any religion and she doesn’t go to church school or take religion at school,” Diez explained.

“We don’t go to mass and when I asked her about communions she said she only wanted the part. The Town Hall is offering me the chance to let my daughter have her special day without putting on the pretence of attending church just for that reason,” the mother said.