As expected, we’re now getting weepy stories about these poor afflicted brides who don’t know if they’ll be able to get married in a church now. For months, the archdiocese has been saying that no couples will be left out, that they will be working to an opening at nearby church at or near the same date and time they had already arranged. But then, that doesn’t make good copy, does it?
One thing about this story set off my alarm bells, see if it does the same for you:
Just minutes after James Macioce proposed to his beloved in their Marlboro apartment, Maureen Sienkiewicz immediately knew she’d want to be married in the church she came to know as “God’s house.” But the Archdiocese of Boston may have different plans for the Oct. 9 Macioce-Sienkiewicz union as St. Susanna’s Parish of Dedham is one of 60 churches marked for closure.
“We still don’t know the closing date. We’re just waiting and hoping ... and crossing our fingers,” said Sienkiewicz, 34, who grew up in Dedham. The churches will start closing in July, with all 60 gone by December, but the archdiocese has not yet said which ones are first. “Having gone to Catholic school and church there every week, there’s a real sense of community in your own church.”
“Churches are not mere scenery for fairy-tale weddings.”
Dom, what’s tragic is that almost every single mother of every one of my daughter’s Catholic friends come right out and say that they send the kid to CCD/Confirmation class just so they can have a parish wedding if they decide to do that in the future. It breaks my heart because the kids are getting ripped off by their parents (and our parish CCD classes which do nothing to disabuse the kids or their parents of their ignorance) and you are exactly right, parishes are looked at pretty much as scenery/backdrop for the nice Church wedding.
BTW… I lived with my boyfriend (now husband) back in the early 80s and finally we married 6 years later. I did get married in a parish but with only immediate family and NO WHITE DRESS or marching down the aisle. The pastor knew we were living together and never said a word about it. Never had to go to pre-Cana, never had a talk about raising/baptising the kids Catholic (my husband is not Catholic), never had a talk about birth control issues and I was not Confirmed at that time. I am grateful for the blessings that God has given us through the sacrament of Marriage but when I think back on the whole thing, I wished the priest had taken the “teaching moment” and relieved me of my poor Catholic HS/CCD catechisis and given my husband a little Gospel to think about. Oh yes, the priest is the leader of the Boston Priest’s Forum.
Proposed to his beloved in “their apartment”!!! Hilarious – they are already married in the traditional sense LOL!
And in all the fairy tale the weddings happen pretty darn quick – usually immediately.
MS