CATHOLICS should be encouraged to seek Church weddings over garden
weddings or the registrar’s office, as the latter two can cause a domino
effect of cutting off from the Church and misery, said Osborne Park
parish priest Fr Michael Gatt.
A number of letters and emails he’s received from people who married in
his church praising the dignity and sanctity they feel their marriage
has because of the ceremony has inspired him to produce a poster with
photos and quotes from them to display in St Kieran’s.
He hopes it serves as a positive reminder to all who darken the doorway
of St Kieran’s Church that marrying in a church is a powerful force for
good as it prompts positive life choices from that point on – including
baptising their children.
Even if they don’t attend Mass regularly, marrying in a church gives
them that call to return to the sacraments for the big occasions like
weddings, and it is at these times when the parish community must
embrace them so they may become a part of the community – and practising
Catholics.
Even the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton “did so much
good to the sanctity of marriage all over the world as the people
watched the royals kneeling down in the ceremony … it was beautiful for
everybody”, Fr Gatt said.
Similarly, the happiness on the faces of the newly wed couples on his
poster “speaks more than our words. I was impressed by what they had to
say”.
“People don’t think much about religion today, and some Catholics are in
two minds about having their marriage in the Church,” Fr Gatt said
“We are there to support and encourage them to tell them what it’s all
about. Weddings are sacraments between Christians, so in the Church they
have the benefit of the prayers of the family, which is also a reminder
not to let the family down.
“Many parents who spent thousands of dollars on Catholic education are
broken hearted because their children went to the public registry; they
don’t come to church, they don’t baptise their children, and the
children are miserable because they drifted from the Church.
“A whole litany of things follow when people don’t get married in the Church. Marriage in a church leads to Baptism, Catholic education and a litany
of positive follows. But this chain of goodness is cut because they
chose to get married in a garden with a marriage celebrant; by doing it,
they cut themselves off from the Church. This upsets their Catholic
parents, and it affects the family their whole life. The more we help them to stay in the faith, the better. If they have
the wedding in the Church, even if they don’t practise every Sunday but
know they are of our congregation, it is helpful.”
“For example, to see the 500 in the street procession for the Italian
feast of the Annunziata on 15 May, there were people there you don’t
find every Sunday,” yet they made that public expression of faith, he
said.
There can even be hidden graces in “mixed marriages” where one spouse is
not Catholic. For the non-Catholic spouse to come to Mass to have the
blessing in Holy Communion, “this is something that’s great, as he comes
to support his wife. That’s something we promote, support and admire,
because after all it’s about the gift of faith”.