Interesting...
My sister was told that the Vatican doesn’t recognize her marriage though she was married in a Catholic church.
It’s been a great education if nothing else and the church was beautiful. Very peaceful too, we had to wisper. ;)
And I was so hoping that the marriage had not taken place in an SSPX Chapel. The good news is that the Vatican is working with the SSPX to bring them back into full communion. As to the separation, the short explanation is that this Catholic group chose not to recognize the changes that resulted from Vatican Council II which took place in the 60's. Essentially, the Catholic Church' locked in' their (traditional Latin) liturgical worship for 500 years. At VCII, the Council, it was decided to 'open up' the liturgy and translate it into the vernacular so that those attending mass could comprehend and follow along. A group of Catholics chose not to go along and began ordaining their own bishops ... a big 'NO'.
Pope JPII restored the traditional Latin Mass but many bishops chose not to allow its celebration in their respective dioceses. Pope Benedict XVI took the next step and freely opened the liturgy for celebration by any priest who chooses to do so, thus bypassing the bishops. Last year, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication from the SSPX and is now working to bring them back into the fold. That is the most simplistic explanation I could come up with but it is still lacking in detail.
It’s been a great education if nothing else and the church was beautiful. Very peaceful too, we had to wisper. ;)
The peace you experienced is the 'peace' of Jesus Christ. (John 14:27) The ultimate form of worship is in a Catholic Church where Christ is truly present, body, soul and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. I have great admiration for Baptist worship because it focuses on the Bible. Catholics, for whatever reason, are reluctant to pick up a Bible and actually read it. Those Catholics who attend weekly Mass will hear the entire Bible read to them at Mass, over the span of 3 years. The priest, as you have already seen, does not lecture on it but use the scripture in his homily to tie it into our personal lives.
God bless your father for his stamina! He must have been scandalized by this service. One of my co-workers recently had a similar experience but in the reverse. Her cousin married a Baptist and converted to his faith.
You wrote:
“My sister was told that the Vatican doesn’t recognize her marriage though she was married in a Catholic church.”
If it was SSPV, then it was not a Catholic Church. It may have been at one time, but not now.
So the Catholic church is encouraging and condoning it's good Catholic boy to live in sin with his illegitimate room mate...
Man, what a religion...