Posted on 08/10/2008 11:27:43 AM PDT by VidMihi
Until yesterday, outdoor weddings were forbidden in the Archdiocese of Seattle. If a couple wanted an official church marriage, a priest had to perform the ceremony in a parish church building - never outside under the blue skies of the Pacific Northwest with beautiful snow capped mountains in the background.
Christine Gregoire is the governor of Washington State. Her daughter Courtney wanted an outdoor wedding at the governor's mansion in Olympia. Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Seattle gave Courtney and Scott the outdoor Roman Catholic wedding they wanted. I am very happy for them and for the precedent this sets for all Catholic couples in the future.
Archbishop Brunett changed the policy forbidding outdoor weddings by sending one of his top priests, The Rev. Michael J. Ryan - pastor of Seattle's St. James Cathedral, to officiate at the ceremony at the governor's mansion in Olympia - outside on the lawn under a white latticed arch in front of over 250 guests .
While the influence of money and power certainly has everything to do with this departure from established policy, I welcome this new precedent set by the archbishop. In accommodating the wishes of the governor's daughter, he has officially changed church policy requiring indoor church-bassed wedding ceremonies for all Catholics.
We married priests in the Seattle archdiocese have been officiating at outdoor weddings for years. It is refreshing to see the archbishop following our lead in accommodating married couples on one of the most special days in their lives.
Over the past 25 years, the ministries of over 100 married Roman Catholic priests in the Seattle Archdiocese have been regarded with a mix of derision and amusement by the majority of church officials and those clerics who find their personal needs more readily met in the corporate priesthood.
This the first of many more examples where our predominantly gay clergy has much more to learn from the married clergy in our Roman Catholic Church.
Father John Shuster, - Married Roman Catholic Priest - Port Orchard, WA
Being a minister in a denomination that sets no restrictions on the location of weddings (or funerals), my personal opinion is that those conducted outside of the church building are always weaker. It’s simply not possible for most couples (families) to come up with all the support that’s already in place in a church building. Whether organs, pianos, sound systems, seating, decorations, atmosphere, changing rooms, staff musicians, fellowship halls, etc., etc., all of it is in place, requires no extra planning or cost, and enables the couple to focus on more important things.
I think a couple/family ends up with a lesser ceremony — and one requiring a whole lot more work — when they go elsewhere.
>> Sorry, I must be mis-informed - seems I learned in the
catechism ( Baltimore, that is ) that “once a priest, always a priest” <<
True... he’s a priest, just not a Catholic priest. Under certain conditions, the Catholic Church has recognized even the Holy Orders of Anglican priests to be valid.
Niether did he; that's why he didn't just become an Episcopalian. (IT'S A JOKE!!!)
And another one's gone, another one's gone... Another one bites the dust...
There is no policy change: one can ask for a dispensation from the bishop to be married, even in a non-Catholic church. A Catholic priest must be present, though.
That a dissenter presents it as a policy change is nothing more than dishonest spin.
Anglican Orders are not accepted as valid by the Holy See.
Maybe we ought to get clarification from the Archbishop’s office. If Joe and future Mary Sixpack, both Catholics, wanted a outdoor wedding would a priest of the Archdiocese be be sent?
Sorry, but YOU’re wrong on both counts:
1. He WAS ordained by a Catholic bishop, but he is no longer Catholic. He is in schism. Hence, he is not Catholic.
2. Although the window seems to have closed, due to the increasing severity of the errors of the Episcopalian Church and the Church of England, there have indeed been Episcopalian priests accepted as Catholic priests without having to receive Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. I know one. The process, however, is extremely difficult, and requires establishing valid apostolic succession, which requires that no-one in the line of succession be invalidly ordained or apostate. (All Anglican preists are illicitly ordained, but illicit doesn’t necessarily mean invalid. All Anglican priests are schismatic, but schismatic doesn’t necessarily mean apostate.)
Dutchess, are you from Holland? I think you mean Duchess. ;)
LOL! You know, you are right!
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