Can I get a Baptist minister to allow Marian devotion at my wedding?

[dmd4b8]

I will be getting married on April 25, 2009. Our wedding service will be officiated by a Baptist minister. (Unfortunately, it is First Communion weekend in my diocese and we can’t be married in a Catholic church that weekend — and I have a very strict work schedule so we can’t change the date.) I have been raised as a Catholic, and my father has requested that we have a devotion to Mary. (I will leave flowers at a statue of Mary and “Ave Maria” will be sung.) Although my future groom’s family (non-denominational Christians) and my groom support this to honor my family’s traditions, the minister is balking, states that this practice is not in the Scripture, and that I don’t need an intermediary to God. I have already attempted to explain that we aren’t actually worshipping Mary, but he is skeptical. However, if I can provide him with scriptural support of this practice he will reconsider. Can you help?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

See the articles at the link below for information supporting Catholic Marian devotion. I must caution you though that you ultimately chose to be married at a Baptist church and so must be respectful of the fact that Baptists do not share the Catholic understanding of Mary. You cannot expect a minister to scandalize his congregation by allowing a devotion within their own church that he and the congregation consider to be a form of idolatry. If the minister cannot in conscience allow you to have Marian devotions during your wedding, you will have to graciously accept his decision. Perhaps you can include the Marian devotions at the reception instead of the ceremony.

Recommended reading:

Mary and the Saints