In recent years, more and more couples have opted to recite more personalized wedding vows as they believe this gives the ceremony a deeper sort of intimacy, making it unique from all the rest.
What better way to express one's love and devotion than with one's own words, right?
But Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas believes otherwise. He thinks that couples should 'stick to the script'.
He took to facebook to explain why he believes that these types of vows have no place in traditional wedding ceremonies.
He views the wedding liturgy along with other church liturgies are forms of 'public prayer' and as such belong to the church.
This 'sacred action', says Archbishop Villegas, should be kept free from private devotions or personal spiritual expressions as they may take away from the ceremony's intended focus on Christ and the church.
He ends by giving advice to his fellow priests when counseling couples who are getting ready to tie the knot. Archbishop urges them to "instruct the couples that the vows prescribed in the wedding liturgy are rich and meaningful if only they understood the full depth and source of the liturgy of marriage. Let us not compromise the sacred character of wedding rites on the altar of romanticism."
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