Which wedding vows will Kate and Will use?

Fr A L-S, Is it a requirement in Canon law that Catholics be Confirmed prior to being married?

I agree entirely that the Cranmer version is best – and the key reason for that is that the “excellent theology” of which the blog author approves, is, in fact, Catholic doctrine on the true ends of marriage, as the Church always taught it before the current madness took hold.

Consider the very name of the Sacrament: “the word ‘Matrimony’ is derived from the fact that the principal object which a female should propose to herself in marriage is to become a mother…” (Catechism of the Council of Trent: Names of this Sacrament.)

The same Catechism of the Council of Trent identifies children as the first blessing of marriage, with fidelity second, and the indissoluble bond of marriage (called the Sacrament) coming third.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that – although technically, of course, these remain the true ends of marriage – the emphasis (in homilies etc) seems to be on the love of the couple for each other (fidelity) with what should be the first end of marriage – children – now, largely, an optional extra, typical of the secular view of marriage. Thus, the contraceptive mentality has taken hold, with Catholics apparently no different from anyone else in the matter of so-called “family planning.” Ironic, in that the use of contraceptives and abortion can cause infertility and so now we have the IVF industry making money out of this self-inflicted misery.

“Family planning”? Always makes me think of the old Mexican saying: “if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

You have hit on a key issue, which is largely ignored by the clergy – who avoid all controversy like crazy. I’ve never understood why men, who clearly want a quiet life, would choose to be priests when Our Lord stated clearly and unambiguously that as the world had hated him, so it would hate us. If ordinary Catholics are going to be battling the world day in and day out, there’s no reason to think “the world” – the enemies of the Faith – will let priests off the hook.

Yet, in case after case that I know of personally, when co-habiting couples have approached the priest about getting married, the fact of their openly living in sin, giving the same address for the paperwork etc. hasn’t as much as raised a clerical eyebrow.

One priest who married someone connected to me, said to me some months later: “I haven’t seen (name and name) since the wedding day.

I replied that since he hadn’t mentioned the word “sin” to them in relation to their cohabitation, and since he knew they were not practicing Catholics and yet had made no mention of THAT being a mortal sin, what did he expect? She’d got her white wedding dress, symbol of virginal purity, she’d got her big church and photographs, she’d had her reception at a posh hotel – it was all over now and “real life” had set in.

And “no” was the answer to my question to him: “Well, Father, have you visited (name) since the wedding and asked why they’ve not been going to Mass.”

The government and society have clearly approved cohabitation and the Church, in its weakened state of crisis, does not have the courage of its convictions to speak out clearly against it. Only one priest that I know of, in England, acts like a true priest when he tells couples that they have to stop living together until after the wedding – and he spells out what the means. No sexual activity until after the marriage has taken place.

One priest (probably) in the entire UK. Tragic. I repeat – what on EARTH makes these men want to be priests? So far, all the answers I’ve been given fit another question: “what makes someone want to be a Social Worker.”

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone and unless you are Our divine Saviour or His Blessed Mother you are not without sin. The Pharisees were condemned because they thought they were so holy they could judge others and did not to repent of their own sins.

In a letter I have written to all our bishops and priests to ask them to offer prayers and a Mass for Prince William and Ms. Kate Middleton – these intentions include asking God to forgive their past sins which is what your readers should be doing instead of looking for excuses to condemn people to Hell. Anglicanism does not teach about mortal sin – that comes from our Church – and any reader who knows what grave or mortal sin to be mortal sin knows three conditions have to be met for a sin to be mortal. Read here:
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a8.htm This is from the Catechism.

In the mean time remember 1 St. Jn:5.16: ‘He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not to death, let him ask, and life shall be given to him, who sinneth not to death.’ It is traditionally believed this means mortal sin.
Why all sins should be confessed – is it not our duty to ask God to forgive the sins of others – or do we believe we are so holy we can condemn others in which Our Saviour will not forgive our sins (St. Mtt:18.21-35).

There is a reason for not mentioning baptism. You do not have to be baptised to marry in an Anglican church. Every citizen living in a parish, whatever their religion, has the legal right to marry their fiancee (of the opposite sex) in their local Anglican parish church as long as they do not have a previous husband or wife alive.

And, unlike his father and stepmother, HRH William has not made an act of contrition for his situation.

(But, then again, the CofE was formed because of a king’s lust for extramarital relations- which is so sad given the large numbers of genuinely moral Christians in its ranks.)