This is a pretty difficult entry for me to write because I'm putting Mike and I out there for a little bit of judgement and finger wagging from some (okay, many) people. But if I want this blog to truly be an honest document of our marriage, I think that this is one of the most IMPORTANT entries that I'll write. For our wedding in April, we both decided that we wanted to be married outside in beautiful Southern California, taking in all of God's beautiful scenery. So it was a bit of a task to find a Catholic priest who was a bit more liberal to marry us outside, but we were so happy with our wonderful Father Brian and were so thrilled that we could have a Catholic ceremony outside with pelicans flying and dolphins jumping as Mike and I said our vows to each other. But having a more liberal priest did not mean Mike and I were safe from the extensive pre-cana exercises that are required by Catholics before marriage. 
I'm happy to say that when our priest took us through the results of our pre-cana testing, we had GLOWING results, and scored in the 95 percentile for our compatibility. He gave us A+ scores for everything from personality matching, family planning, problem solving, and fiscal responsibility; however, I'm sorry to say that the one area that Mike and I did not score very well in was in religion. It's not because we disagreed on certain elements of our faith, but it meant that we just hadn't taken time to talk about it together...until our pre-cana. Wth Mike coming from an Episcopal upbringing, and my Catholic background, we have been raised with close to identical beliefs, but religion was something we had just not made time for in our lives. In any given month, we spend at least 2 weekends out of town, leaving little time for a weekly mass. 
As you may have noticed in our blog last weekend, one of our New Year's resolutions was to go to church at least once/month. And every Sunday, I feel a slight pang of guilt when the neighborhood church bells chime and I'm sitting in my apartment. While it's a beautiful sound, it reminds me every time that I'm choosing not to attend services, but to consume myself in my busy life instead. So this morning, we got up nice and early and put on our Sunday's finest for mass at the quaint little Episcopal church in Gramercy Park. Calvary St. George Episcopal was a great place to spend our first mass after several months of not going to church, and sadly our first mass together since our wedding last April! AND, were so lucky that the interior was still decorated with festive Christmas lights and beautiful garland. The Parish was extremely welcoming to people who were new to the church, and the clergy was very eager to meet us after the services concluded.
We followed mass with a delicious brunch at one of our favorite restaurants in the area...Almond. It was nice to be in heels and pearls on a Sunday instead of sweats and a ponytail (or if it's football season, jeans & a jersey). A delicious lobster-egg white omelet (yes...I know...it was amazing) tastes MUCH better after you enjoy a nice Sunday morning mass.
This entry is not intended for self-promotion after going to church one week, but instead a documentation of how we're growing in our marriage together and making changes in our relationship with each other, and God. New York is scattered with beautiful churches in every neighborhood. Some are architectural masterpieces, and some are quaint little local chapels. And as we get closer to one day starting a family, we feel so strongly about making religion a bigger part of our lives. We've decided to alternate between Catholic & Episcopal churches to fulfill both our faiths & explore the beautiful places of worship that Manhattan has to offer. We'll obviously pick our favorite, but we want to shop around a little bit until we find "the one". But for this week, our local Gramercy Park church was extremely welcoming and more than convenient!
No comments:
Post a Comment