Weddingbee Blog

Warning: This post is about religion. I know this is a passionate subject, and I believe that my experience, although perhaps not ideal, is a common one. I was going to gloss over my entire Catholic ceremony on the blog, but our Catholic ceremony IS our wedding.

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Mister and I both received our sacraments in the Catholic church. I know my religion, or lack thereof, might be offensive to some. I’m learning. We have a very typical situation to many a Catholic. We became distanced from the church when the priest/altar boy scandal rocked America. I would attend CCD as a child but never really supplemented my education with going to church. Therefore, my understanding of my religion is very elementary. In college, we were introduced to a friend who had received his calling to serve God. He is a wonderful person, but also very approachable and similar to any other young adult. He’s just an everyday guy who, instead of loving a nine-to-five career, knows he was meant to love the church and God. He reintroduced faith to us to the point where we knew we wanted to pledge our marriage in front of Him. We had many a question for Priest Friend (PF) about what the church may think of our living together and what to expect when meeting our priest. In a nutshell, he said the church will never turn you away, but the priest will work with you to strengthen your religion.

I had heard faint whispers about priests who were pretty harsh on couples not following the “rules,” but dismissed them. I guess a part of me thought because our families were devout Catholics, maybe they’d just roll out the forgiveness carpet and we’d continue working on how to be better sinners. Leaping lizards, I was wrong! Did you know there are women out there who search for churches with the longest aisle to increase their moment in the spotlight? Isn’t that the most absurd thing you ever did hear? I have heard of people attending church up until their wedding, never to be seen again until Junior needs to be baptized. I can’t say that, at first, I didn’t think I would be one of those people.

Once I began to attend church I really enjoyed it. Zeb went to church when he was little and knows what he’s doing. So I’m excited to finally be able to “hold my own” on Sundays. I’m excited to learn new things and feel comfortable with my faith.

To those priests who turn your backs on couples…I urge you to reconsider your stance. Take the opportunity to educate them and grab some more parishioners. It is never too late in life to develop a relationship with God.

To put yourself in the priest’s shoes, visit Reverend Know-It-All. His passage helped me to put our experience into perspective. Thank you to the bee on the Catholic board that linked this in February. It helped me tremendously.