Four couples on Saturday August 6, 2022 brought their marriages to the Altar in a Mass wedding at the Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic church Awoshie-Anyaa in the Archdiocese of Accra.
The mass wedding admonished other Parishioners to take a cue and take steps to also regularize their marriages before the Altar of God. Such mass weddings enabled both the rich and poor to avoid expensive weddings, which dissipate their financial resources.
The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) regretted that sometimes debts incurred after elaborate wedding celebrations resulted in the dissolution of marriages.To that extent, a good number of the aged parishioners were not coming for Holy Communion.
Upon the Council’s investigation, they realized that some of the impediments that made it difficult for worshippers to come to the Altar with their Marriages could be addressed and cleared.
The Church was in the process of working to address certain impediments with other aged parishioners in order to organize more Mass Weddings in the coming years. This because the mass wedding, the Church takes care of organizing certain aspects which make it less expensive for the couples involved.
During the mass wedding, the Priest-in-charge asked the couples, almost all of whom are parents, to continue to be faithful to each other and strife even harder in their spiritual growth.
Rev. Father Pius Kofi Asare , the parish priest of Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic church Awoshie-Anyaa, who was the main celebrant, asked the newly wedded couples to solidify their marriages through trust, gentleness, open-communication and love.
He quoted from the 1Corinthians 13:1 says I may be able to speak the language of human beings and even of Angels, but if I have no love , my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have all the faith needed to move mountains but if I have no love , I am nothing.
According to him, love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not I’ll-mannered or selfish or irritable. He continued that love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. ” Love never gives up, and its faith, hope and patience never fail”.
Rev. Father Pius Kofi Asare’s homily, observed that marriage is like salt but if salt loses it saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. However , it has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.
He therefore admonished the couples to love and be faithful to each other that will make them strong and stand in Faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and the faith can bring joy and blessings from Almighty God.
In conclusion, the parish priest of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church also urged the congregation especially Catholic faithful to emulate the same and bring their marriages to the Altar of God Almighty because there is blessings in it.
The first mass wedding, which took place in 2007 involved 12 couples , while the second in 2016 involved 17 couples. The Four wedded couples have been married for between eight and 15 years while their ages ranged from 30’s to 50’s.