Sin calls for mass weddings
for 'living-in' couples
Posted: 5:21 PM (Manila Time) | Jul. 31, 2002
Agence France-Presse
MANILA Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin on Wednesday called on parishes to hold more mass weddings to formalize the union of couples who are "living in sin".
"Cardinal Sin expressed concern about the increasing number of Catholic couples who are living together without the blessings of matrimony," said Father Lito Jopson, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church leader.
He ordered parishes in Manila to hold mass weddings at least once every two months, free of charge, Jopson said.
But Sin also warned against attempts by politicians to capitalize on these mass weddings, saying "mass weddings must be initiated by our pastoral workers and parish priests and must be kept untainted by partisan politics."
Many couples in this predominantly Catholic Southeast Asian nation merely live together and do not get married because of the high costs of a formal wedding ceremony.
In the past, politicians have sponsored mass weddings to court votes in poor communities
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Would you take the advice from a guy named "Cardinal Sin"?
