Something had to change when most parents in a Spanish town were not married but wanted their children baptised or requested the children receive their first holy communion.
Change happened, and Catholic couples in Sebastián de los Reyes are now lining up for a “macro wedding”.
It is a new option for the parish, and local priest Fr Javier Sánchez-Cervera says the new approach to weddings is a great success.
The idea has met people where they are.
The first wedding
The Church of San Sebastián Martír has just celebrated Spain’s first macro wedding, with 36 people exchanging vows.
Arranged by the parish, the aim was to create a stress-free wedding celebration.
“We wanted to arrange everything, and for the 18 couples to “concern themselves only with saying yes to God” says Sánchez-Cervera.
During the Mass, he told the couples “God is going to come and sanctify your relationship.
“The bride and groom at Cana, like you, invited Christ to their wedding.”
Gifts arrived for each couple.
Each received a special blessing from Pope Francis.
In addition, the Poor Clares of Salamanca made each couple a pair of sandals.
Each pair was hand-stitched with the name of the bride and groom “to help them walk together”.
Cost-sensitive pastoral outreach
Sánchez-Cervera says he was inspired to hold the “macro wedding” when he realised about 80 percent of parents in his parish requesting baptism or First Holy Communion catechesis for their children were unmarried.
When he asked them why they weren’t married, Sánchez-Cervera says “their faces looked sad”.
“They spoke of the cost, the logistics, and being alone – some are from other countries including Latin America. Others, being older, felt a bit embarrassed.
He could see something had to be done to change this, enlisting the help of parishioners in his quest.
“We began with a team of 10-15 parish volunteers. But as the ceremony drew near, we ended up with 40-50.”
One was that each of the 18 couples was assigned a parish “tutor” to guide them through a Catholic marriage preparation course and the necessary paperwork.
Then – almost unheard of in this day and age – everything about the wedding ceremony and feast was free of charge. Not a centimo was paid.
Local residents donated dresses for brides. Sánchez-Cervera supplied champagne and cake for toasts after the nuptial Mass.
Local hairdressers and beauticians prepared the brides for the wedding for free. Local residents tailored the wedding dresses.
Timed to coincide with local fiestas, the newly married couples were given tickets for a fair where they could enjoy a first dance at a free concert.
“Associations occupying booths at the fiestas offered the newlyweds and their children free food and drinks” Sánchez-Cervera says.
More couples are signing for a “macro wedding” next year he adds. “There are lots of couples in similar situations.”
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