Brittany Spears is getting a Catholic wedding

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Once on EWTN Mother Angelica got onto a rant about tourists who showed up at the St. Peter’s and got turned away at the door because they were dressed too informally. Somebody said, “What’s wrong with dressing however you want for Mass? God knows what’s in your heart.”

Mother Angelica said why do people dress up when they go to a job interview? Often you’re not expected to dress that formally on the job, but you dress nicely out of respect.
 
I know it is difficult to see it this way, but because Marriage is a Sacrament. It is a** right** for a Catholic to be married in the Church, also as long as there isn’t any impedment such as a previous marriage. You could have a Catholic who hasn’t entered a Church since as a baby when they were baptised, and they are as much entitled to the Sacrament as someone who goes every Sunday.
 
Someone quoted Jesus as saying, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

So let’s see what He says in Mark 9:42: “But it would be better if anyone who leads astray one of these simple believers were to be plunged in the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck.”

Ooh…pretty harsh. But it’s supposed to be. I’m sure that most couples who lived together out of wedlock did so because they didn’t realize it was a sin. But WHY didn’t they realize it was a sin? Certainly not because at one time (when Christian morals were held in much higher regard) it was the norm to cohabitate.

No, someone who many people looked up to (rightly or wrongly) did it and God didn’t strike them down with lightning and they seemed happy and it seemed “smart”… and someone else did the same… and someone else… and thus many “simple believers” were led astray.

I’d like to give Britney Spears and those other young women credit for having more brains than they would like the public to suspect they have (Brit’s interview with, I think, Barbara Walters and Brit’s views on masturbation seem to make this a moot hope for me, but let’s pray anyhow). However, they must realize that a lot of people (especially impressionable young women) view them as role models–and when they see a good-looking, successful, popular young woman dress like a harlot, sing suggestive lyrics, make headlines with their latest romantic conquest… AND THEN attempt to “sacramentalize their sacrilege”, they are responsible for giving scandal… and reference Mark 9:42 again!

I cannot presume to know the state of Ms. Spears’ or Ms. Lopez’s soul, but a tree is known by the fruit it bears. And I’m seeing an awful lot of rotten fruit here. Surely anyone who’s even begun to pursue a valid Catholic marriage KNOWS the Church’s stance on issues like artificial birth control, cohabitating, and premarital sex. Heck, I know a lot of people who AREN’T pursuing a Catholic marriage who know that (and, sadly, that is WHY they aren’t… but at least they’re honest!)

Yes, we’re all sinners, but we’re not supposed to be merely content with that. We’re supposed to “be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. We will all fall short of the mark, but we should be striving toward perfection, not making excuses for imperfection. Just because the just man falls several times doesn’t mean that when I fall I can just lie there and say “oh well, I’m a sinner”.

Blue"get up!"Rose
 
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renee1258:
I know it is difficult to see it this way, but because Marriage is a Sacrament. It is a** right** for a Catholic to be married in the Church, also as long as there isn’t any impedment such as a previous marriage. You could have a Catholic who hasn’t entered a Church since as a baby when they were baptised, and they are as much entitled to the Sacrament as someone who goes every Sunday.
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I’m sorry, but suprisingly, I disagree 🙂 . You are right, it is difficult to see that we are entitled to the sacraments because it is wrong.
It is a PRIVELEDGE to be a Catholic Christian and there is nothing that Jesus died for that we are ENTITLED to - we have to live and abide in Christ to inherit eternal life, it is not given to us without ANY effort on our part. Yes Christ died for us, he set up His Church on earth, but that certainly does not mean we are entitled to ANYTHING. Christ is giving us a free gift - His eternal love, but that does not mean we DESERVE it (Thanks be to God that he DOESN"T give most of us what we rightfully deserve!!), nor do we EARN it, it is given through His grace. We must remain in that grace to inherit eternity. We do so by abiding in Him and in His sacraments and I’m sorry, but someone who hasn’t stepped into a Church since their baptism near birth does not have access to those sacraments.
Trust in His grace, stay in His grace, please, for the sake of your eternal soul, do not continue to believe that you DESERVE His grace!! 👍
 
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Jennifer123:
I’m sorry, but suprisingly, I disagree 🙂 . You are right, it is difficult to see that we are entitled to the sacraments because it is wrong.
It is a PRIVELEDGE to be a Catholic Christian and there is nothing that Jesus died for that we are ENTITLED to - we have to live and abide in Christ to inherit eternal life, it is not given to us without ANY effort on our part. Yes Christ died for us, he set up His Church on earth, but that certainly does not mean we are entitled to ANYTHING. Christ is giving us a free gift - His eternal love, but that does not mean we DESERVE it (Thanks be to God that he DOESN"T give most of us what we rightfully deserve!!), nor do we EARN it, it is given through His grace. We must remain in that grace to inherit eternity.** We do so by abiding in Him and in His sacraments and I’m sorry, but someone who hasn’t stepped into a Church since their baptism near birth does not have access to those sacraments.**
Trust in His grace, stay in His grace, please, for the sake of your eternal soul, do not continue to believe that you DESERVE His grace!! 👍
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But they do!

I’m not a Canon Lawyer, but I use the term “right” in the very legal sense. I just read some very detailed posts from a Canon Lawyer on another board several years ago, she would make very clear that dispite a couple’s fall into secular values, they were more then entitled as a right being a Catholic (even non-practicing) to have a Catholic Marriage.

I guess with my work through pre-cana, I see these couples and they need to have this right to be married in the Church. They want something better, and they deserve something better. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Brittiany Spears and Jennifer Lopez deserve better then what the media has portrayed them as. I think as Catholics we have the right to love, and the Church shouldn’t deny any Baptised Catholic that right in the Sacrament of Marriage.
 
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renee1258:
But they do!

I’m not a Canon Lawyer, but I use the term “right” in the very legal sense. I just read some very detailed posts from a Canon Lawyer on another board several years ago, she would make very clear that dispite a couple’s fall into secular values, they were more then entitled as a right being a Catholic (even non-practicing) to have a Catholic Marriage.

But human beings can be wrong - it is better to know the Church’s teachings and the Gospel message than to take the word of a canon lawyer who without reading what she wrote but based on your synopsis is wrong.
IF the couple wants to have a Catholic ceremony then they should be willing and able to go to confession in order to remove mortal sin, and if living together in sin, they need to have resolve to not commit the sin again especially before the ceremony. They also need to be confirmed. If these requirements are met then yes I guess they have the “right” to complete a Catholic ceremony. But in any case, this process is granted through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing for Our Lord on our own, it is the prompting of the Holy Spirit that makes these works possible. It is His GRACE that allows a Catholic marriage, not by any perceived entitlement of our own, and we certainly don’t deserve His grace by any means, it is His free gift. And as Catholics, we believe His saving grace can be taken away by our own sinfulness, the Gospels are full of passages that speak of this. We must remain and abide in His grace.

I guess with my work through pre-cana, I see these couples and they need to have this right to be married in the Church.

Of course they have this need - the need to be close to God is the law written on our hearts. But that doesn’t mean they deserve it.

They want something better, and they deserve something better.

Again, IMHO this is the definition of the “entitlement mentaility”, that we all deserve things we have no right to, and we deserve whatever we aren’t willing to work towards. This is dangerous in secular and religious society.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that Brittiany Spears and Jennifer Lopez deserve better then what the media has portrayed them as.

Possibly, but the media is the price they pay for living the life they’ve created, which is filled with all the riches for them and for others that anyone could possibly want. Maybe they are finding out through the media’s sometimes hurtful and dishonest coverage that it’s not worth it. For what is it worth for a man to win the world but lose his soul? Hopefully Ms. Spears and Ms. Lopez will come to see that sometimes having it all in the world means very little, and I hope the Church can provide them with that.

I think as Catholics we have the right to love, and the Church shouldn’t deny any Baptised Catholic that right in the Sacrament of Marriage.

**I’m sure you do great work in the pre-cana program and that is commendable. But we don’t have a right to any of God’s grace. We love because God made us to love not because of anything we’ve done and sometimes that love is not always within God’s grace, and it is the Church working through Christ Himself, not us, that has the right to sanctify it. Jesus’s sacrifice is worth our sacrifice - the joyful sacrifice of living His word, carrying His cross, abiding in His grace, as burdensome as it may be. We must persevere to the end, not turn to Him only when necessary or convenient. His gift is free, but it is earned only through His grace, not because we deserve it or because we are entitled to it. I guess that’s all I’ll say about it (amen, right???) 😃 **
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Well, I’ve know this woman for several years now, she is very well regarding and she knows her stuff. Her job is the Gospel, and to advise archbishops of Church’s policy and teachings. So yes, she is more credible then you. And your “Doctrine of ‘You are not Entitled’” that you just made up, isn’t going to fly.

She recommended me this book, it was a little hard to read but I loved the gist of it. (my FIL has it now, I can’t remember the name.) That Church is just, as in justice and Catholics have rights and also we have due process! We can argue whether or not they should excerxise that right, but Catholics have rights. Alot like American citizen have the right to vote, we would all agree that someone people don’t know what they are voting for but they have the right. And just because we have due process, doesn’t mean we are going to like the result.

Sometimes people don’t do things in the order that they “should” but it doesn’t make them less deserving or their marriage less valid. You don’t have to be confirmed, and the priest does say go to confession but it doesn’t effect the validity of your marriage.
 
For those of you who do the marriage preparation classes:

Some of us who were living together before marriage did wish to correct a sinful situation by going through the marriage process. Also, going through the marriage process reopened my eyes to the Church after having fallen away in my teenage years. Without it, I may never have gotten properly reinvolved. Before going through it, I was a “social” member of the Church (i.e. Christmas and Easter). I am grateful that God gave me a way back into his Church, and I do attend regularly and do things I never used to do such as pray daily and basically try to live my life in conformation with Jesus’ teachings.

Andy
 
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
That being said,

I have been to the “monastery.” It is actually a retreat center that doesn’t really have monks. I think it used to be a monastery. I’m sure the “secret meetings” are about as secret as any other meetings.
Reading the story and knowing what the Serra Retreat Center actually is really brought home how overdramatized news/tabloids can be.
The Retreat Center hosts mostly liberal retreats as well as many 12-step programs.
They rent out the space for weddings, and the weddings don’t necessarily have to be Catholic.
The bookstore is loaded with liberal books. I searched far and wide for something resembling orthodoxy; couldn’t find one.

It is a beautiful setting overlooking the ocean; I’ve often gone up there for private reflection. It is open to the public for prayer.

Anyway, let’s pray for Britney’s situation. Maybe she’ll learn something about the Catholic faith and reclaim her Christian upbringing.
 
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AmandaPS:
It was the last line of the story that her friend said that troubled me.
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This troubles you? Why? Is it really any different than a Catholic marrying a Jew in a Jewish ceremony, then coming to the Church for a blessing later? Is it really any different than any other religiously mixed marriage where there’s a ceremony in one faith and a later blessing in the other faith?

Frankly, Kabbalah is a fad…just as the whole Scientology thing was a fad. But like most of us, when we start growing up, we return to our faith and give up the fads. There are people on this board who experimented with all sorts of religions through the years, even the Rastafarians. But in the end, they’re back here and happy to be home. Granted, Brittney wasn’t raised in the Catholic faith, but maybe the formation that she goes through during the pre-Cana process will show her other opportunities and a new way to relate to the Lord. Let’s also not forget that these fine Jesuits aren’t going to get roped into marrying anyone who isn’t ready. Give the priests a little credit, too.
 
I think that Brittany did get her less than 48-hour wedding annulled. I also believe that she is Baptist, but has also dabbled in the Kabbalah “religion”. I am guessing that Kevin Federline’s parents are insisting on a Catholic wedding. I thought this post was weird at first. I mean, who cares what kind of wedding Brittany has. We all know she’s not sincere in her Christian beliefs and her fiance is a bum! But then again, it makes me want to pray for her. In fact, I think it is a good idea to regularly pray for people in the spotlight like Brittany or any movie/music/theatre star. They need our prayers! They are pulled into a non-Christian lifestyle where the focus is totally off what it should be on…Jesus!
 
I pray their marriage in the Catholic Church will bring them many blessings and maybe even a change in heart.
 
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