Fr. Jim Tucker on the wedding industry and related matters:
I contrast that to the weddings that we celebrated last Saturday night in the Spanish Vigil Mass. Twice a year, we encourage couples who are in merely civil unions or long-term cohabitation to take advantage of a program I started up a few years ago. We take these couples, most of whom have children and are together for several years, and who for whatever reason didn’t seek the sacrament of matrimony when they got together. They hear it advertised at Mass, so almost all of them are regular Mass-goers, but obviously unable to receive Holy Communion or to fill leadership roles in the parish. Two married couples and I give them marriage talks, meet with them, put together their paperwork, and make sure there are no obstacles to solemnizing their marriages. Then, together with the people with whom they’ve taken the classes, they make their vows in the parish Mass, surrounded by fellow parishioners who’ve been praying for them while they’ve prepared. The parish pays for the music, pays for the decorations, and doesn’t charge a dime. And they return to the Sacraments that night at the same time they receive the convalidation of their marriages.
The week afterward, we always get a deluge of phone calls of people who were moved by the beautiful and festive celebration and want to have their own unions blessed in the same way, as well. The event is palpably sacred, the newlyweds end up becoming some of our most active parishioners, and the communal nature of the Sacrament is made patently obvious. There’s no fretting over trivial details. There’s no obscene expenditure of money. There’s no worrying over guest lists, as all are welcome.
Even though validation isn’t the best way to go — that is, being married in the Church after a civil ceremony or concubinage — these group weddings are my favorites, and the couples tend to be the ones who impress me most. I’ve also been edified by the way our parishioners look forward to them each season and the interest and joy they show in the couples. It really is a celebration within the parish community, and not merely a private ceremony attended by people one has never seen before. To that extent, the joy of the event seems several orders greater, as well.
and also clarifies the BLAIR TO BECOME CATHOLIC "news" from earlier today.
Oh, and he’s also got some good posts on Downs’ Syndrome, including a profile of his nephew:
Since Damien goes to Mass at the Birmingham Oratory, he knows many of the responses and chants in Latin. A favourite game when we meet is for me to sing "Dominus vobiscum", for him to respond "Et cum spiritu tuo" and for me then to ruffle his hair while we both shout "Aaaargh!"
You could tell me that Damien’s life is not worth living or you could start trying to chew a brick. Either way you will lose some teeth.
Communion/Excommunication Update:
Earlier this week, TIME published an interview with Cdl. Rodriguez Maradiaga on the issue.
Today, he’s clarifying:
In statements to Carlos Polo, director for Latin America of the Population Research Institute, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, said he agrees that Communion should be denied to politicians who publicly support abortion.
In an interview with Time magazine, Cardinal Maradiaga was asked, “Do you agree with the Pope’s statement that pro-choice Catholic politicians merit excommunication?” The cardinal responded by saying: “It is canon law that everyone who works for abortion is excommunicated. It’s not something the Pope invented. If you favor abortion, you are outside the communion of the Church. And it was necessary to say that. There are people in Mexico saying I am Catholic and I support abortion rights. This is a contradiction in its very essence. As a teacher of the Church, the Pope has a responsibility of teaching when something happening is wrong.”
Later he was asked: “Do you agree with bishops who deny giving Holy Communion to these politicians?” The cardinal replied: “This is a different point. For who am I to deny Holy Communion to a person? I cannot. It’s in the tradition of moral theology that even if I know a person is living in grave sin, I cannot take a public action against him. It would be giving scandal to the person. Yes, he should not seek [communion], but I cannot deny it from him.”
Nevertheless, in statements to Carlos Polo, reproduced exclusively by the Catholic News Agency, Cardinal Maradiaga, who is in Aparecida participating in the V General Conference of the Latin American Bishops’ Council, said his comments to Time magazine should be reformulated “in light of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith teaches in its document, ‘Worthiness to Receive Communion’.”
“A politician who publicly supports abortion, he excommunicates himself. It’s not question of receiving Communion or not; he has already done serious harm to the communion of faith of the Church, to the communion of moral life, and therefore that person himself is doing an act that is inconsistent with what he says he believes,” the cardinal said.
“That is, we’re talking about a person who has become a broken-off branch of the tree of life of the Church, a dry branch that has lost its vital sap and is doing something that is a lie. One who is against life and who is clearly opposed to the message of the Lord Jesus, as is an abortion supporter, cannot be in Communion with Holy Mother Church,” he stated.
Everything that Daniel Mitsui posts.
Randomness from the Catholic Blog Directory:
Blog-By-the-Sea dug up some videos of Rome’s Family Day that have been posted on YouTube.
Here’s a good one: A Catholic Mom’s Guide to Books – the blogger posts reviews of contemporary juvenile fiction. One to bookmark!
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