A couple of weekends ago I was honored to stand along side one of my beloved friends, Clint, as he married the woman he loved. It was a beautiful wedding, and the reception was heaps of fun. I've been a groomsman many times, but this was a different event entirely. This was the first time I'd been asked to be a groomsman in a Catholic wedding with full mass.
During the whole 1.5 hour wedding I became uncomfortably familiar with the old saying "Sweating like a whore in church." The Catholic church is not subtle in its opposition to homosexuals, and there was an odd tone in parts of the ceremony. In addition it wasn't my A-game as a groomsman because I got lost during the whole: Stand up. Sit down. Kneel down. Stand up. Turn around. Kneel down. "Cross your arms because your not Catholic" event.
Clint loves me and my husband without hesitation, and he does not think the love he has for his wife is any greater than the love I have for my husband. Clint pulled me aside after his wedding to apologize for the anti-homosexual tones in part of the ceremony. I appreciated his thoughtfulness.
If Clint, a devoted practicing Catholic, understands that all love is the same, then how much longer will it be before the Catholic church figures this out? I guess Jesus will have to come back to get the Catholic church to change. Oh, well...
I consider myself a cafeteria Catholic, meaning that I pick and choose the parts that work for me. Some things I love - like the ritual of the mass, the ceremony of communion, the idea of confession, and the idea of the saints. But the political views of the Catholic church, and the embarrassing behind-the-times stance they take on marriage (and a number of other issues), I can live without...
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