Wedding Ceremony vs. Wedding Mass
This Saturday Sara and I went to a briefing at the Cathedral (along with ten other couples) to find out the ins and outs about having a wedding at the Cathedral.
We were given a brief lecture from a priest about the sacrament of marriage and how it is a reflection of God's love for Israel (so what you're really trying to tell me is that my getting hitched has something to do with world piece?) and how the gays and Mormons have perverted the whole thing. Yeah, whatever, bite tongue, please move along...
Then we got a brief lecture about the whole process and were informed, much to my pleasure, that we have the option of a "Wedding Ceremony" instead of a "Wedding Mass". This means that there will be much less religion in the ceremony and no Communion. That should make my side of the isle breathe a collective sigh of relief. Sara thought her side of the family might have a problem with this, but parents didn't have any objections at all. Whew.
Finally, we were given a FOCCUS test which is supposed to tell us all about ourselves, and I suppose let us know our likelihood of getting divorced (or actually, annulled since divorce isn't allowed). The test was off to a bad start in my book because it asks for you to put down your current relationship state, listing single, married, divorced, widowed, seeking validation, and a few others. None of them were "engaged", so I voiced the question that everyone else was too afraid to ask. "What do I put down for my status? Am I seeking validation?" "Seeking validation" seemed a whole lot like what I was doing here.
The blunt answer came back that "you're single". Funny, don't feel single. The lady to my right informed me that "seeking validation" is for people that were married outside of the church and were looking to have their marriage recognized. Ah.
The next interesting bit of the front page was the question of "how long have you been courting?" which I took to be about 6 months since that's how long we were dating before I asked Sara to marry me. Sara put down 10 since apparently she thinks being engaged is some form of courtship.
I asked, "Are you planning on leaving me?"
"No.", she replied.
"Then we're not courting."
Oh well. Not as bad as the lady to my right that needed to do math to figure out how long they had been courting. When her fiancee asked what she was scribbling, she said she needed to calculate the number, and that she needed another box (there were only two) since they had been "courting" for 106 months. He responded, with not much love in his voice, "I don't think that we needed to inform the entire room of that fact." Whoa there big guy, nothing to get riled up about. Another lady giggled and said that they needed three digits too. I suggested that "99 will be just fine."
So, the first meeting with the church went well. I didn't burst into flames when I walked through the door, and I managed not to insert my foot in my mouth, even if it was because I had to clench my teeth though a lot of it.
We were given a brief lecture from a priest about the sacrament of marriage and how it is a reflection of God's love for Israel (so what you're really trying to tell me is that my getting hitched has something to do with world piece?) and how the gays and Mormons have perverted the whole thing. Yeah, whatever, bite tongue, please move along...
Then we got a brief lecture about the whole process and were informed, much to my pleasure, that we have the option of a "Wedding Ceremony" instead of a "Wedding Mass". This means that there will be much less religion in the ceremony and no Communion. That should make my side of the isle breathe a collective sigh of relief. Sara thought her side of the family might have a problem with this, but parents didn't have any objections at all. Whew.
Finally, we were given a FOCCUS test which is supposed to tell us all about ourselves, and I suppose let us know our likelihood of getting divorced (or actually, annulled since divorce isn't allowed). The test was off to a bad start in my book because it asks for you to put down your current relationship state, listing single, married, divorced, widowed, seeking validation, and a few others. None of them were "engaged", so I voiced the question that everyone else was too afraid to ask. "What do I put down for my status? Am I seeking validation?" "Seeking validation" seemed a whole lot like what I was doing here.
The blunt answer came back that "you're single". Funny, don't feel single. The lady to my right informed me that "seeking validation" is for people that were married outside of the church and were looking to have their marriage recognized. Ah.
The next interesting bit of the front page was the question of "how long have you been courting?" which I took to be about 6 months since that's how long we were dating before I asked Sara to marry me. Sara put down 10 since apparently she thinks being engaged is some form of courtship.
I asked, "Are you planning on leaving me?"
"No.", she replied.
"Then we're not courting."
Oh well. Not as bad as the lady to my right that needed to do math to figure out how long they had been courting. When her fiancee asked what she was scribbling, she said she needed to calculate the number, and that she needed another box (there were only two) since they had been "courting" for 106 months. He responded, with not much love in his voice, "I don't think that we needed to inform the entire room of that fact." Whoa there big guy, nothing to get riled up about. Another lady giggled and said that they needed three digits too. I suggested that "99 will be just fine."
So, the first meeting with the church went well. I didn't burst into flames when I walked through the door, and I managed not to insert my foot in my mouth, even if it was because I had to clench my teeth though a lot of it.
posted by Mark at 1:49 PM
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