PROVIDENCE — Weekday mornings at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence tend to be quiet, but the Friday morning after Thanksgiving bustled with energy.
Just before 9 a.m., the first several rows of center pews began filling. Speaking in Spanish, Father Joseph Brice, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Providence, directed the crowd amidst a sense of happy expectation. In a matter of moments, eleven couples begin the rehearsal for their weddings to be held at the cathedral the following day, Saturday, Nov. 30.
Many of the couples had attempted marriage at an earlier date. Because these couples are Catholic, and did not observe canonical form, the marriages were invalid (that is, to have never occurred in the eyes of the Church). On Saturday, several couples “convalidated” their attempted marriages, thus exchanging consent anew in the required canonical form.
Da Silva noted that being in marriage formation together provided an opportunity for the couples to learn from one another and to share their past experiences — an opportunity that’s not usually present in marriage preparation for one couple.
For participant Pamela Jaquez, community was a major part of choosing to get married at this ceremony.
“It’s not just that we’re getting married, we’re building a community,” Jaquez said, adding that because Western culture does not often support marriage as a sacrament, community is more important than ever.
Being married is being “married in the Church,” said Father Brice. It’s about joining “that whole group of people who are striving to be holy, striving to become saints.”
“Love multiplies” through community, said Wensil Rivas in Spanish with da Silva translating. “The formation has been a discovery of all the richness of the Church, but also discovering identity as a married woman.
Father Brice said that in his experience as a pastor, there are many reasons why a couple may decide to delay getting married or having their marriage convalidated, including financial concerns, the intimidating prospect of seeking an annulment, or simply not knowing how to begin the process.
“So, I said, why don’t we find a way to make it easier for people to get married?” he said.
Father Brice recalled that when he and his formation team announced a marriage preparation program to the parish, they were surprised by the high number of responses. It was a member of the formation team who suggested the possibility of having several couples exchange consent individually on the same day, something that was new to Father Brice.
“I had to learn how that works and all that goes into it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the blossoming fruits that are going to come out of this experience.”
Father Brice explained that those fruits include being members of the community as married couples, providing an example to the rest of the community of how to live the vocation of marriage — a formation in lifelong discipleship.
An even greater factor in the couples’ decision to convalidate their marriage was being able to receive the Holy Eucharist.
For Rafael Feliz, the motivation for participating in the ceremony “was to walk back into the Church.”
In an era when so much of the importance of weddings is placed on the individuals getting married, a ceremony with other couples present, also exchanging vows, may appear to be impersonal and obscure the focus on the couple — and that is exactly the point, said participant Faviana Pérez
“We 11 couples,” Jaquez continued, “we’re ready for the marriage, not just the wedding.”
