WHY IS THAT CATHOLICS WED A BRIDE WHO IS PREGNANT

*WHY IS THAT CATHOLICS WED A BRIDE WHO IS PREGNANT*
BISHOP EXPLAINS PASTORAL LETTER ON PREGNANT BRIDES Updated: March 06, 2003 05:00 PM GMT
A bishop who recently issued a pastoral letter that deals with pregnant brides says his instructions do not deprive Catholics of the Sacrament of Matrimony. Bishop Jose Sorra of Legazpi maintains that his Feb. 10 2003 "Pastoral Letter on the Meaning of Christian Marriage in Public Marriage Rites" makes a clear distinction between a public marriage ceremony and a private one. "If a bride is determined to be married while conspicuously pregnant, the decree allows for a private ceremony in a side chapel or in the sacristy," Bishop Sorra told UCA News. Bishop Sorra declares in his letter that, conspicuously pregnant brides "are to be discouraged and disallowed from having a public wedding." Conspicuous pregnancy, he explains, is a clear counter-symbol contradicting the biblical symbolism of the marriage of Christ to the Church, his Mystical Body.
To avoid being "offensive to the symbol of Christ," he does not allow a pregnant bride with an enlarged womb to march down the aisle or stand in the middle of the sanctuary. He describes a white bridal gown over an enlarged womb as "a ludicrous confusion of symbols." While "the purity, chastity and beauty of this Mystical Body is symbolized by the white bridal gown," pregnancy outside marriage results from a violation of the Sixth Commandment, which forbids adultery, Bishop Sorra explains. "If everyone can see the bride´s large stomach then it becomes a scandal," he told UCA News.
The bishop related that there is a story going around his diocese about a pregnant bride who went into labor while standing at the altar and had to be rushed to the doctor to deliver her baby. He criticized the "Philippine Daily Inquirer," a national newspaper, for using the headline "Bicol Priests to ask Bride: Are You ...!" in its report on the pastoral letter. This was "misleading," according to Bishop Sorra. "Practical prudence dictates that no one may ask the bride if she is pregnant, because premarital sex is a confessional matter," he said.
His letter says that sex before marriage "is the exclusive knowledge of the bride and only of her conscience." The letter says the groom, too, "must be chaste, pure and beautiful or deserving of honor," because he symbolizes Christ. It notes that he and his bride are the ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony, and their outward appearance should symbolically reflect purity and chastity of soul.
The bishop said he issued the pastoral letter on the feast of Saint Scholastica, a virgin, "in line with the liturgical renewal" in his diocese and "in the context of our Church´s current pastoral thrust of rebuilding the Christian family and strengthening its family values." He instructed clergy to include his instructions in the Diocesan Policy on Christian Marriage and suggested that they be discussed with couples during pre-wedding seminars.
Nonetheless, some local Catholics interviewed by UCA News perceive their bishop´s letter as denying Church members the Sacrament of Matrimony. They expressed concern over the effects of such deprivation. "The Sacrament of Matrimony is being denied to a Catholic and a child of God," Dennis Talavera, a 28-year-old security guard remarked. Another concern, voiced by maintenance worker Bert Dio, is that the bishop´s instructions "could just push couples to live together outside of marriage and lead to increased number of unwed mothers."
Bernadette Leoncito, 18, raised spiritual and practical considerations. "Marriage in the Church will give the mother more graces to raise a family," she said. She added that a mother´s capacity "to meet the responsibility over the child for it to grow as a practicing Catholic" is a more important matter than debating whether a pregnant woman should walk down the aisle or not.
Others who learned of the pastoral letter thought differently. "A bride must be "pure and unblemished to be brought to the altar," said Ricky Domasian, a bookkeeper who considers a pregnant bride "a scandal to society." Agreeing with Domasian was 19-year-old Myra Futol, who said that "a pregnant bride should not be allowed to get married in Church." According to retired teacher and Church worker Violeta Maximino, the Church teaches that a woman should be married in the Church before she has sex with a man. This, she said, is the main guideline.
The 1992 "Catechism of the Catholic Church" teaches that all couples who are engaged to marry are called to live "chastity in continence." It adds that free union of couples is considered "against the dignity of marriage" and "contrary to the moral law."
https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2003/03/07/bishop-explains-pastoral-letter-on-pregnant-brides&post_id=22104 July 13 2020