The priest was a bollox and I told him so when I met him later at the reception. It was clear that he deeply resented officiating at the wedding. I asked him was it because he knew that the bride & groom had not seen the inside of a church since their Confirmation, if so then he had blown a golden opportunity to welcome them back?
Or was that he had requested “a donation” and just discovered a miserable 50 Euro note in the envelope? And if so then next time he should wait till after the service to open his envelope.
I told him whatever the reason, that in 20 years of doing weddings, I had never witnessed such a disgraceful display from a priest and he should be ashamed to wear the collar. He managed to say Mass and be obnoxious at the same time.
He was a tad shocked, especially as this onslaught came in the midst of a flow of eejits shaking his hand and telling him “it was a lovely service”.
That was an extreme case but I regularly hear priests at weddings giving a homily about Divorce or Abortion, what planet are they from? Perhaps we need Women Priests doing weddings, they are perceived as being more romantic than men.
Don’t let the Protestant Lady Ministers ruin the idea; they are just as dry & strict as their male counterparts. Mind you, your one in the Dublin Registry Office isn’t exactly a bag of laughs but at least she is guaranteed to break the ice with, “you may kiss the bride”.
I asked a Catholic Priest about this once and he replied, “that sort of thing has no place on a Sacred Alter”, as if God would be horrified by newlyweds having a kiss!
Happily there are lots of Priests who manage to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone; do any of you photographers remember Fr Michael Cleary (RIP) at a wedding? He was perhaps at the other end of the scale but in spite of his so-called sins he was an inspiration, at both the church service and at the reception, he captivated everyone there. The guests weren’t saying “lovely service Father” they were asking where was he saying Mass next Sunday?
Why cant Priests take one fecking leaf out of his book and stop pontificating to a couple who are on cloud nine and stone deaf to religious ranting. In spite of the interested look on their faces if you ask the Bride & Groom 10 minutes later what was the Priest’s homily about, they won’t have a clue.
There’s little hope of them returning to church anyway so what’s the worst thing that might happen if the couple actually had a laugh during the ceremony?
A wedding is the only sacrament, which is not performed by the Priest but by the couple getting married. The Priest is only a witness and as women are barred from most positions in the Catholic Church, (except cleaning), perhaps its time women officiated at weddings, leaving the old boy to witness the signing of the register. Somebody is eventually going to have to replace the aging and ever depleting priest numbers!!!
Dominic
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