Church wedding ceremony

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bergues

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Hi everyone,

I apologize if I post in wrong section of forums. It looks to me that this is section which is closest to question I would like to ask.

My future wife is catholic and we will have catholic wedding in church. I’m not religious.

My question is, during the wedding ceremony between Catholic and non Catholic, is it required for non Catholic to kneel during some parts of ceremony.

I would feel pretty uncomfortable about kneeling, and from one part hypocrite too , as I’m not religious.

Is it possible to arrange with priest that he excludes kneeling from ceremony ( at least from my part) ?
 
bergues said:
Hi everyone,

I apologize if I post in wrong section of forums. It looks to me that this is section which is closest to question I would like to ask.

My future wife is catholic and we will have catholic wedding in church. I’m not religious.

My question is, during the wedding ceremony between Catholic and non Catholic, is it required for non Catholic to kneel during some parts of ceremony.

I would feel pretty uncomfortable about kneeling, and from one part hypocrite too , as I’m not religious.

Is it possible to arrange with priest that he excludes kneeling from ceremony ( at least from my part) ?
Click to expand...
Non-Mass celebration is here: Order of a Catholic wedding without Mass
There is one place to kneel for the nuptial blessing.
 
bergues said:
My question is, during the wedding ceremony between Catholic and non Catholic, is it required for non Catholic to kneel during some parts of ceremony.
Click to expand...
In a mixed marriage situation such as this, the Church recommends the marriage rite outside of the Mass. If there are any parts of the liturgy that call for kneeling, you can do whatever posture is OK with you such as sitting.
bergues said:
Is it possible to arrange with priest that he excludes kneeling from ceremony ( at least from my part) ?
Click to expand...
I don’t believe that will be a problem. Talk to the priest when you two sit down for your first premarital preparation meeting and share with him your preferences and apprehension.

I have been to Catholic weddings that had Jewish bridal attendants, although not a bride or groom, and they did not kneel, bow, etc.
 
I am Catholic, and my husband was baptized but not raised in the faith. Because of that, and also because of the amount of non-Catholics who attended our wedding, our priest suggested that it would be better not to have a Mass.

However, we were kneeling throughout the ceremony, in front of the altar. This was something that this particular priest felt strongly about, and we didn’t question it. I do think my husband was a bit uncomfortable (he is not very religious), but he went along with it. I actually am very glad we did. It was quite beautiful. The pictures of us kneeling below the cross are some of my favorite wedding photos.

The best person to answer your question is your priest, but how does your fiancee feel about it? I don’t know all the “rules”, but I don’t necessarily think it would be hypocritical of you to participate in your wedding in this way. Given that it will be a Catholic wedding, and assuming that you don’t have any issues with the Catholic wedding vows or the ceremony in general, I don’t see any reason not to kneel when appropriate if you don’t feel too uncomfortable.
 
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bergues said:
My future wife is catholic and we will have catholic wedding in church. I’m not religious.
Click to expand...
Are you a baptized Christian? (Yeah, it’s kinda a relevant question.)
My question is, during the wedding ceremony between Catholic and non Catholic, is it required for non Catholic to kneel during some parts of ceremony.
Click to expand...
Believe it or not, there are really three distinct ‘ceremonies’ (or parts of them): one for a marriage of two Catholics, another for a marriage of a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic Christian, and a third for the marriage of a Catholic and a non-Christian.
I would feel pretty uncomfortable about kneeling, and from one part hypocrite too , as I’m not religious.
Click to expand...
I understand. Do you believe in God, though? Aside from religious practice, I mean. 'Cause, after all, you’re not kneeling to the priest, or to the Church, but rather, you’re kneeling before God.

In the ceremony between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian, it seems that kneeling is called for, as others have mentioned, only during the Nuptial Blessing. In the ceremony for a Catholic and a non-Christian, the language seems to suggest that it’s a judgment call that the celebrant can make on his own.
Is it possible to arrange with priest that he excludes kneeling from ceremony ( at least from my part) ?
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Possibly. Here’s the thing, though, from a practical perspective:
  • Are you suggesting that you and your fiancee take different postures (e.g., you standing or sitting while she kneels)? That would look weird, don’t you think?
  • Are you suggesting that, during the parts of the ceremony where sitting is called for, your fiancee will be sitting in a chair? In her gown? Getting it all wrinkled up? And with the gown/train/etc blocked from view by her chair? (Often, especially in a wedding Mass, the couple kneels during the times when the congregation sits.)
Just sayin’… 😉
 
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I have to say that I got married in my parish church 42 years ago and didn’t kneel at any point. It was a mixed-marriage so no Mass.
 
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