Group Wedding Helps Couples Receive Sacrament of Matrimony

By Linda Busetti

The bride, Gloria Ines Hernandez, in her white gown and roses in her hair, and her groom, Jaime Luis Zurita Mejia, arrived early at Blessed Sacrament, Jackson Heights, for their wedding last Saturday, March 24.

They were soon joined by 15 other couples, many civilly married, who also came to receive the sacrament of Matrimony.

Linda Busetti Photo

JOINED IN MATRIMONY: Sixteen couples were married at Blessed Sacrament Church, Jackson Heights, last Saturday, March 24, after instruction for the sacrament as part of the parish evangelization program. Msgr. Raymond Kutner, pastor, celebrated the wedding Mass along with Father Edward Smith, parochial vicar, who had coordinated the instruction program leading up to the sacrament.

The parish has been holding a group wedding ceremony for about 10 years, during which time about 100 couples have been married. The tradition began after a group of Redemptorist priests came to present a mission at the parish and discovered that “so many couples living together were not married.” They suggested offering the group wedding as part of the parish’s evangelization effort.

Msgr. Kutner said that this year’s ceremony just happened to coincide with Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s column, “Marriage as Covenant” (The Tablet, March 17), in which he wrote, “If we look at the situation today, however, we know that preparations for marriage and assistance to those who are married are really important ministries which the Church must support. As the diocese engages in a long-term planning process, based on parish planning, it is my hope that we will find new and better ways to assist couples preparing for marriage and also support those who are married. There is no more important factor in this progress towards the New Evangelization.”

Among the 16 couples married last Saturday, some are parents of children who are about to receive First Communion or children who have been baptized this past year. On the steps of the church, another groom, Jose Lopez, held his little son, Ephrem, who was wearing a dark suit and tie. Lopez was about to marry Maria de los Angeles Palalia Palacios.

Limousines dropped off some of the wedding parties. Others walked to the church from home. Sylvia Garcia, another bride, arrived surrounded by her little nieces in white dresses and nephews wearing new suits with room to grow in.

Most of the couples, the majority of whom are Hispanic, are young, but there were also several with a touch of silver in their hair. Some had never married in the Church because they wanted their parents and families to be present. But many are from Mexico or Ecuador and their families cannot afford travel here.

In preparation for the wedding ceremony, many have been going to confession, Msgr. Kutner said, and expressed their joy that now they will be able to receive Communion with their children.

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