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Just Said Yes June 2017

Attending a wedding = supporting the wedding?

Joseph, on April 4, 2017 at 10:28 AM

Posted in Etiquette and Advice 21

We are trying to plan our wedding, and my fiancée is feeling extremely anxious and self-conscious about inviting guests. A bit of background: we are both Catholic converts with families that are exclusively Protestant -- hers in particular very conservative Baptist and generally anti-Catholic. She...

We are trying to plan our wedding, and my fiancée is feeling extremely anxious and self-conscious about inviting guests. A bit of background: we are both Catholic converts with families that are exclusively Protestant -- hers in particular very conservative Baptist and generally anti-Catholic. She feels judged, imagines all her family who come will only judge and condemn; while I insist to her that whoever *does* come, including her parents, is making a statement that they *do* support our union and our wedding, even if they may not support our confessional choices or the liturgical goings-on. Anyone who *truly* opposed either us being together or our wedding would not be in attendance. For example, I say, typical wording for a wedding thank-you is "Thank you for attending and supporting our wedding."

I am trying to reassure her, and it is not helping. My question to you: Is attending a wedding in itself a statement that you support it?

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  • J
    Just Said Yes June 2017
    Joseph ·
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    Thanks for everyone's input and advice. For what it's worth, my Protestant family has been much more accepting and open-minded about my conversion (I converted five years ago). My fiancée converted two years ago, and her parents in particular have given her a hard time. They do, however, seem to accept that we are still Christians, and have asked me to pray at family dinners, which was an important gesture I appreciated a lot. When I converted, the person I was most concerned about telling was my Baptist best friend -- who had told me not all that long before (before I had any interest in it) that he didn't think Catholics were Christian. But he said that he believed my faith was genuine and that wherever I felt God was leading me, he would support me. That is the most I could hope from anyone.

    Being married in the context of a Mass is very important to both of us, as an expression of who we believe we are, Christians whose union with each other is a reflection of Christ's union with the Church, and of what our marriage will be, a Sacrament. We understand there will be confusion about the Mass and probably offense about Communion being open to everybody. I plan to write a booklet explaining some of these things and hopefully to share them beforehand on our website. Our priest is likewise a convert from a Baptist background so I hope he can touch on these things irenically. I don't expect everyone in attendance to agree with or support all the Catholic particulars of the liturgy, but I do hope that at least some can appreciate its beauty, and appreciate the beauty of our gift to each other.

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