Is anyone Catholic?

[TimonTracy]

My FH and I met with a priest yesterday. We will get married in Disney in late November and then we'll get our civil union blessed at a later date.

My FH is catholic, I am not - but we've agreed to raise our kids catholic.

 

[TiggerStac]

DH and I ran into a whole debate w/my dad when we were getting married. My dad wanted me/us to get married in a church and at the time dh and I wanted WDW. A family friend (who is a fransican monk sp??) told my dad how things have changed and that parents do not need to be married in the catholic church for children to be baptised, etc. I had thought about this, because do they not baptise children of unwed parents??

Anyways...my DS was baptised in the catholic church I went to as a kid at 6 weeks old. We had no problems with this at all and I have his baptism certificate. My DH and I were married in a Garden Ceremony by a Justice of the Peace. Our marriage was never "blessed" either. It was never even brought up when we called about having DS baptised.

 

[hmgolden]

I am truly disappointed at the Church's stance on this. For goodness sakes, this is DISNEY! Could there BE a company that prides itself more on their vales and encoragement of the family? No one is asking them to bless a marriage which took place in a coven of witches.

According to church doctrine, a catholic wedding must take place inside a church - no outside weddings, no cruise ship weddings, no Disney weddings. DH did a lot of research about the church wedding issue. He even discovered that according to canon law, a bride and groom do not even need to be present at the wedding ceremony - they can send proxies in their place as long as the ceremony takes place in a church. As it became more and more clear to DH and I that a catholic wedding has very little to do with the couple getting married, we opted to not continue with the process of getting our marriage blessed.

 

[Janet2k]

It’s a shame that organized religion gets in the way, isn’t it. My heart goes out to all of you as this is a personal issue that many Catholics have to work their way through.

Here’s my story. My husband and I are both Catholic. We eloped the fist time we got married (Justice of the Peace ceremony). That was good enough for us, and also good enough for God. When we renewed our wedding vows in Walt Disney World twenty years later (Justice of the Peace ceremony again), that was good enough for us, and also good enough for God. Being married outside of consecrated grounds had no bearing on our marriage or how we lived our lives. We’re both good people who only have to answer to each other and God.

Where to get married is a personal decision that only you can make. Again, it’s a shame that organized religion gets in the way of true love, but no one ever said life would be easy. You will find a happy medium, have no fear.

I wish all of you nothing but the best that life has to offer, be it through an official Catholic ceremony, a Catholic blessing, a Justice of the Peace ceremony, or any other number of paths that you may choose. Congratulations on your upcoming marriages (and vow renewals).

 

[Goobergal99]

DH and I were openly living together when we got married in the Catholic Church. When we asked about Pre-cana, our priest said "Do you want to go?" and we said "Not really." He said "OK, don't worry about it."

Not all RC churches and priests are alike.

Anne

I wish I lived in your parish/area. LOL but it is true they are not all alike, like I said my old parish was totally willing to marry us they just didn't have the date. and at that point I was too frustrated to find another one.

I will say that the thing I found the most funny was that we were raising our child together in a family enviroment, would it have been better if we just lived seperately and confused our DD. but then again they surely would have told me we shouldn't have had a child out of wedlock because catholics seem to think this is 25 B.C.

 

[jlovesee]

I agree Im starting to believe more and more that the catholic church is more about power then it truly is about god.

My husband and I were married at Disney about 4 1/2 years ago (Jan 26, 2002) and boy did we go through the melodrama with the church. Just a little background Im Catholic my husband isn't. Some people on here have been more lucky then myself in that their families were supportive. Well mine wasn't. My aunt even came up to me the day before our wedding and said we its nice getting married here but my daughters will do it right and get married in a church!

My mom and grandmother also tried my coercive means to get me to get married the "proper" way. Well I finally decided after almost backing out several times to do what I really wanted and we got married at Disney. its a decision I have never regretted.

I had talked with my chuch St Therese before we left and they did treat me like dirt, basically saying call us back when you really want to get married. Because we had moved to another park of the city (we live in Kansas City, MO) I checked it out with a church in that area St. Marks, and they were nice about the issue. Basically we had to wait a year after the wedding to get it blessed, which is what we did.

Ive heard about the Florida Diocese and cannot and will not believe that god ever meant it to be like this.

Jennifer

 

[littleladykaty]

I'm sorry to hear that people have had such a hard time with the church. I just don't get it. I mean the church is desperately looking for young families with children to rebuild parishes after all that has gone on the last few years. Why on earth alienate people by being such self righteous JERKS? Oh well...I think people are figuring out more and more that God is about Love and love is the basis of marriage...as long as we love each other and are good to eachother that should be good enough for the church. *sigh*

we are all good people here...getting married in the church doesn't mean that your marriage is somehow protected or will last...so many girls that I know are only sending their kids to CCD so that they can get married in the church if they want to, not b/c they believe in the principle of CCD or religious education.

There are enough things in the world to feel bad about...leave it to the catholic church to try and make us feel guilty about getting married! But then guilt is their game right?

GRRRR mean people suck!

 

[JJClemson]

He even discovered that according to canon law, a bride and groom do not even need to be present at the wedding ceremony - they can send proxies in their place as long as the ceremony takes place in a church. As it became more and more clear to DH and I that a catholic wedding has very little to do with the couple getting married, we opted to not continue with the process of getting our marriage blessed.

That is crazy! The bride and groom do not even have to be present to have a Catholic wedding! Ok, so I'll just send a couple of friends to be our proxies while we get married at Disney Not really. I am seriously reconsidering the whole Catholic thing. I do not even know if I want my marriage blessed by a priest anymore! Why do they have to make this so difficult?

 

[Goobergal99]

I agree Im starting to believe more and more that the catholic church is more about power then it truly is about god.

Jennifer

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Very interesting thread!

It definitely showed me why I am no longer Catholic. Way too hypocritical. The Catholic Church has so many rules, that most Catholics could not begin to name all of them, never mind follow them.

My SIL says she's Catholic, but disagrees with almost every point the Catholic Church mentions- Lent, fasting, birth control, divorce, living together beore marriage, homosexuality, etc.

I am currently Unitarian Universalist with an interest in Buddhism because it's closest to what I truly believe but most of what has been discussed still applies to me because I have to have a Catholic ceremony for my Mother.

There are some great ideas on here. I think I would agree with the poster who said she'd prefer to have the WDW FTW first. It's where I want my wedding, so it's where I want it first. I figure I can have a ceremony at home when I get back.

Can a Catholic priest really refuse to marry a couple because they were previously married in WDW or can they just refuse to do the blessing afterwards? I mean, couldn't you just say you had a change of heart and really want to do the Catholic thing now?

 

[Goobergal99]

Very interesting thread!

It definitely showed me why I am no longer Catholic. Way too hypocritical. The Catholic Church has so many rules, that most Catholics could not begin to name all of them, never mind follow them.
QUOTE]

Most Catholics pick and choose the ones they want to follow anyway

I will say however that this reminds me of a lil something. Last weekend my DD had a terrible bout of otitis media (ear infection) and we ended up in the ER b/c she eas in alot of pain. So I am in tears because I can't do anything for her and one of the ER nurses is trying to calm me down (I am a nurse for goodness sakes ) so as my DD started to relax so did I so the nurse says to me "Honey it's not your fault that she's sick" to which I respond "I know but I'm Catholic and Italian that results in lots of guilt" My DH just laughed.

 

[littleladykaty]

love that guilt...when my sisters and I were little and we would fuss about one thing or another my Nanna, who lives in Ireland would say "To be sure, you are making the baby Jesus cry...don't you feel ashamed?!"

I always took the bait...hook line and sinker...*sigh* I've much guilt about every little thing...but nanna always said I was to "offer up any discomforts I have and go to confession and pray to Mother Most Merciful to intercede on my behalf..." she would tell me this when I was...6!

Nanna is a very GOOD catholic!!

 

[DisneyBrideWannabe]

I'm a little confused. Wouldn't lying to the priest about living together or having sex just to be married in the church defeat the purpose? The big man upstairs knows the truth. This is why I'm not Catholic, even though most of my extended family is. If so many people are unhappy with the catholic doctrines, why not switch to a more liberal church that better aligns with your persoanl beliefs about religion and God? I don't want to have to some day lie about who am or what I did just to have someone tell me I can or can not marry the person I love. When my ultra-Catholic aunt said that I was getting married at Disney b/c my Df and I live in sin and couldn't marry in church, I replied that first of all I am Baptist, did Adam and Eve marry in a church? and how come God can hear us when we pray outside of church, but can't here my marriage vows outside of a church? If they don;t like, then I guess it save me $80 a head

 

[Goobergal99]

I'm a little confused. Wouldn't lying to the priest about living together or having sex just to be married in the church defeat the purpose? The big man upstairs knows the truth. This is why I'm not Catholic, even though most of my extended family is. If so many people are unhappy with the catholic doctrines, why not switch to a more liberal church that better aligns with your persoanl beliefs about religion and God? I don't want to have to some day lie about who am or what I did just to have someone tell me I can or can not marry the person I love. When my ultra-Catholic aunt said that I was getting married at Disney b/c my Df and I live in sin and couldn't marry in church, I replied that first of all I am Baptist, did Adam and Eve marry in a church? and how come God can hear us when we pray outside of church, but can't here my marriage vows outside of a church? If they don;t like, then I guess it save me $80 a head

Kudos to that, better yet, why not just believe and be spiritual without having to belong to a man made organized religion that charges admission

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Hi there! i'm a SWAN bride 2004!!! i got married in the AM at the Swan by Rev. Bob Myers ( he signed my marriage certificate) Then that evening at 5pm i was married at HOly Family Church in Orlando Florida by Fr. Greg (and i'm from IL). I had a FULL out Catholic mass with 75 guests! it was phenomenal!! and them back to the Swan for my evening reception!!! If you have any questions just PM me or post here

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Dh and i lived together before we were married and our priest that prepared us (in IL) knew about this. We really had no problems at all with anything.

 

[Tinkerbellz]

My DH and I are catholic, we have raised our children thus and when we do our VR in 2008, we are having our favorite Rabbi do the ceremony. He is an amazing man whom I feel closer too than our local priest. (Now as a catholic, I know where I'll end up )

Anyway, you have to do what is right for you and your family. I must agree with a previous poster that said the union between her and her DH was with a JOP and between them and God.


Being Catholic means we can guilt our kids into anything....

 

[Goobergal99]

My DH and I are catholic, we have raised our children thus and when we do our VR in 2008, we are having our favorite Rabbi do the ceremony. He is an amazing man whom I feel closer too than our local priest. (Now as a catholic, I know where I'll end up )

Anyway, you have to do what is right for you and your family. I must agree with a previous poster that said the union between her and her DH was with a JOP and between them and God.


Being Catholic means we can guilt our kids into anything....

So So true, I have to comment are they your kids in the pic in your sig? b/c if so how typically catholic to go through the rebellious goth stage. I totally did My DH was way worse then me though (Vinyl pants and all) at our wedding My FIL and maid of honor made alot of cracks about it in their speeches LOL, My FIL asked me (very publicly) If I could see myself growing old with his son and my response was "Well If I stayed with him when he wore fishnet stockings and painted his nails, I am sure we will survive anything" Everyone laughed and my DH was as red as an apple. Of course I made a huge posterboard with pictures of us in high school to prove it LOL

 

[Tinkerbellz]

Yes indeed Goobergal99. Those are my kiddos. They are an interesting bunch. If you see us walking around at Disney at the end of this month, DD will probably be wearing long shorts (they call them shpants) and a skirt on top.

I've decided I'd fight the much bigger issues that that. The small stuff is easy to deal with.

I know there is light at the end of the tunnel..One day they'll grow up and go "What the Heck was I thinking?!" I'll be sitting there going

 

[Goobergal99]

Yes indeed Goobergal99. Those are my kiddos. They are an interesting bunch. If you see us walking around at Disney at the end of this month, DD will probably be wearing long shorts (they call them shpants) and a skirt on top.

I've decided I'd fight the much bigger issues that that. The small stuff is easy to deal with.

I know there is light at the end of the tunnel..One day they'll grow up and go "What the Heck was I thinking?!" I'll be sitting there going

LOL I think I had the same color hair as your DD when I was 16

So, so true. I always say that my DH let it go on alot longer just to further aggravate his father who thought he was depressed b/c of the way he dressed LOL.

Come to think about it, he still wears the Doc Martens, he just replaced the fishnets on his arms with Tatoos It's ok He has Jack Skellington and Sally so it's ok by me and DD Thank god he is a brick layer and not a buisnessman

But in any case everyone knows mommy is the one that needs to be normal