Married in Catholic Church without the Mass

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I did not know if was possible to have a Catholic wedding without a Mass. Recently I attended a wedding for my wife’s second cousin who is not Catholic, he is an Eastern rite Christian called Marthomite. The woman he married is a Syro Malabar Catholic. The wedding was held at a Catholic Church. I assumed they were going to have a Mass.

Their were five priests with one as the presiding priest. They had elements of the Mass including the readings, homily, prayer of the faithful, our father and final blessing. They had the wedding ceremony after the homily. They mentioned the Blessed Mother a few times and the bride and groom lit a candle in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother. Ave Maria was sung by the Cantor.

I tried searching these forums but could not find a previous post to answer my question. What is the authority for this type of wedding?

I found it insulting that the Eucharist would be denied at a Catholic wedding, especially at an interfaith wedding. That’s my personal opinion but I respect the Church’s authority but I simply don’t understand this specific situation. Anyone with knowledge about this please help me understand. Thanks.
 
I found a web site link that has an explanation.

I understand the reasoning and disagree with it.
 
Thanks adrift. The article helps me understand the situation better. Here it is:

"Weddings Without Mass
by Paul Turner
Code: 
Having a Catholic wedding doesn't have to mean having a Catholic Mass. You can celebrate a Catholic marriage in your parish church with a service that does not include a full Mass. Sometimes that is a better option. A wedding without Mass includes the procession, the opening prayer, the Scripture readings, the homily, the couple's exchange of consent, the rings, and the blessings. It does not include the preparation of the bread and wine, the eucharistic prayer, and the communion rite.
When the bride and groom come from two different faiths, or when many of those attending the wedding will be unfamiliar with the Roman Catholic Mass, the service without Mass may make a better fit. Marriage celebrates unity. If the celebration includes Eucharist, a partner who belongs to another faith will not share the great symbol of unity at the climax of Mass, communion. Neither will non-Catholic guests who came to join in the prayer. In fact, all through the service many will wonder when to sit or stand, what responses to make, or how to sing the acclamations. That much discomfort often silences the Catholics who are present, inhibiting their capable, full, and conscious participation in the Eucharist. A wedding without Mass spotlights the wedding itself and lets the whole assembly participate more equally. People can hear the Scriptures, witness the consent, and join in the prayers and blessings together even if they come from different denominations. The service still takes a while — Catholic weddings are notoriously longer than most others — so all will feel like they’ve worshipped, not just watched.

Celebrating a marriage without a full Mass may also help your parish priest. If the wedding does not include Mass, either a priest or a deacon may preside for it. Although your priest wants to help families with funerals and weddings as they occur, they can add more stress for him and the parish when they fall on an already full weekend. Many priests find the wedding without Mass enables them to reserve the energy they need for the regular Masses that weekend. "
 
georgewithfaith said:
I found it insulting that the Eucharist would be denied at a Catholic wedding, especially at an interfaith wedding. That’s my personal opinion but I respect the Church’s authority but I simply don’t understand this specific situation. Anyone with knowledge about this please help me understand. Thanks.
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When only half (or less) of the congregation and marital party are able to receive, its makes things a lot easier not to have the Eucharist. Otherwise it can be a bit awkward to give communion only to the bride or groom but not the other and then only half (or less) of the congregation.
 
georgewithfaith said:
I did not know if was possible to have a Catholic wedding without a Mass. Recently I attended a wedding for my wife’s second cousin who is not Catholic, he is an Eastern rite Christian called Marthomite. The woman he married is a Syro Malabar Catholic. The wedding was held at a Catholic Church. I assumed they were going to have a Mass.

Their were five priests with one as the presiding priest. They had elements of the Mass including the readings, homily, prayer of the faithful, our father and final blessing. They had the wedding ceremony after the homily. They mentioned the Blessed Mother a few times and the bride and groom lit a candle in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother. Ave Maria was sung by the Cantor.

I tried searching these forums but could not find a previous post to answer my question. What is the authority for this type of wedding?

I found it insulting that the Eucharist would be denied at a Catholic wedding, especially at an interfaith wedding. That’s my personal opinion but I respect the Church’s authority but I simply don’t understand this specific situation. Anyone with knowledge about this please help me understand. Thanks.
Click to expand...
In the Syriac Catholic tradition (of which the Syro Malabar Church is part), there is no Divine Liturgy (Mass) at a wedding. The wedding (called the Crowning) is its own liturgical service. Incorporating it into a Divine Liturgy is a product of Western influence, and represents one of the foreign influences that the East is trying to get away from.
 
Well… I’m married to a man who is not Catholic. And his ENTIRE side of the church was NOT Catholic.

The idea of basically excluding them from more than half the event, with regard to comprehension and participation is not charitable in my opinion. And seemingly a way to show a HUGE seperation with DH right off the bat!

And we broke no rules doing so. It’s hard enough to get along with the in laws… No reason to make them feel as though they are lesser… not worthy of participation…

And OMG… what if one of them got up to partake not aware of what they were doing… Just following along???
 
In pre-conciliar days, it was not at all unusual to have a wedding without a Nuptial Mass. As I recall, (Fr David, correct me if my memory is lacking), Nuptial Masses were only offered on Saturday (which was the preferred day for a wedding). Weddings on Sunday, e.g., were done without a Nuptial Mass.
 
FrDavid96 said:
In the Syriac Catholic tradition (of which the Syro Malabar Church is part), there is no Divine Liturgy (Mass) at a wedding. The wedding (called the Crowning) is its own liturgical service. Incorporating it into a Divine Liturgy is a product of Western influence, and represents one of the foreign influences that the East is trying to get away from.
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That one is a “yes, but” thing. The “yes” part is in incorporating the Crowning into the Mass. That is a latinization of sorts. OTOH, the Crowning is a “stand-alone” service, and there is nothing that says it may not be done before Mass. IOW, it need not be incorporated as such. Just as it’s not unusual to have Matins immediately before Mass, so too can a stand-alone service be done that way. The entire Rite of Crowning would be done, and then Mass would begin. As a partial adiee, I don’t know about the particular custom of the Syro-Malabars, but I believe that elsewhere, at least, in the East and Orient, Saturday was traditionally considered the preferred day for a Crowning.
 
I did not find any division in my son’s wedding where most of the people including the bride could not receive.

It was a matter of their respect for the faith of their new relative.

I have more confidence in people being able to understand when explained to them what are faith is about.
 
adrift said:
I did not find any division in my son’s wedding where most of the people including the bride could not receive.

It was a matter of their respect for the faith of their new relative.

I have more confidence in people being able to understand when explained to them what are faith is about.
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That only works if they are confident in their own Faith.

DH’s aunt is the first to make sure that I’m able to go to Mass whenever I’m with the family. She would never receive Communion in a Catholic Church and she would never be offended if I went to a Communion Service in her Church and didn’t receive. Why? Because she knows about Catholicism, Anglicanism and the United Church of Canada. She is not swayed in her faith and respects the faith of others.

Not all non-Catholics are that way. Not even all Catholics are that way: witness the large number of Catholic who were very upset when priests criticized our Prime Minister, an Evangelical Christian, for receiving Communion at a Catholic Funeral Mass. They were publicly stating that everyone should be able to receive Communion at a Catholic Mass regardless of their religion.
 
The point of all this is that it is not “insulting” that there is no Divine Liturgy at a Syro Malabar Catholic wedding anymore than it would be insulting not to have a full Sunday service with communion offered at a Lutheran wedding. This isn’t about special provisions due to a marriage between Catholics and non-Catholics. It would seem to be about following the marriage traditions of the Syro Malabar Church.

Now as to whether or not the couple adhered to other Sryo Malabar customs… I have no idea.
 
FrDavid96 said:
In the Syriac Catholic tradition (of which the Syro Malabar Church is part), there is no Divine Liturgy (Mass) at a wedding. The wedding (called the Crowning) is its own liturgical service. Incorporating it into a Divine Liturgy is a product of Western influence, and represents one of the foreign influences that the East is trying to get away from.
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My parents immigrated to the United States from India and I was born and raised in the United States with the Latin Rite. By the letter of the law I belong to the Syro Malabar rite, more specifically the Knanaya diocese because my Dad belongs to that rite. Only in the past 15 years or so have had an actual Syro Malabar Church. More recently a new Knanaya Church started where I live. So due to circumstance I am unfamiliar with many aspects of the Syro Malabar rite and am learning new things about it. I have never heard of the Crowning. All of my Uncles and Aunts who married in India had a Mass for their weddings.

You allude to the East trying to get away from the influence of the Mass at the wedding. Is this a recent development?
 
georgewithfaith said:
You allude to the East trying to get away from the influence of the Mass at the wedding. Is this a recent development?
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Not so recent, but I think in the last 100 years or so. The Latin Church has acknowledged that for so long while Roman Catholicism was spread around the world, they have far too much influenced Eastern Church traditions to the point that Latin traditions were overtaking Eastern traditions inside the Eastern Churches. I forgot which Pope, but there was a decree for Eastern Churches to reclaim their traditions. Also its strictly forbidden for Roman Catholic missionaries and other religious to convert Eastern Catholics into Roman Catholicism.

I think India is one such case when the Roman Catholic Portugese came in.
 
I’m a convert, my wife’s a cradle Catholic. No one else in my family is Catholic; several members of her family are lapsed. Our friends are a mix of Catholics, Protestants, and atheists.

That being said, we decided to have a full Mass at our wedding. I didn’t worry about it alienating people. We had an order of the Mass along with all of the responses and music printed up in our programs, and before Communion, our priest quickly explained about what we believe in regard to the True Presence, and why non-Catholics could not receive.

The bottom line is, a wedding is for the couple, and what THEY want. It’s not for the guests, or the parents, or anyone else. We wanted to be sure that we started our lives together focused on Christ, and had His involvement in our wedding. When you die, would you forgo having a funeral Mass, for fear that your non-Catholic friends would feel left out?

For what it’s worth, several members of my family told me how beautiful our ceremony was, and that they loved how focused it was on Christ.
 
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