With a message of holy matrimony being “a work of God,” the annual Spanish Mass in Honor of World Marriage Day is scheduled for Sunday, February 9, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and coincides with this year’s World Marriage Day as declared by the Church.
Father Jose Felix Ortega, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx, is to serve as principal celebrant and homilist of the 2 p.m. liturgy. More than 400 couples are expected, and many will renew their vows. The annual Spanish Mass is organized by the archdiocesan Movimiento Matrimonial Católico (MMC).
The MMC group has helped prepare many unmarried and civil-married couples for Church-bonded marriages. During the week leading up to the special Mass at the cathedral, the group will hold evening gatherings for couples (married or unmarried) at various parish halls: four in the Bronx, two in Manhattan, and one in Clifton, New Jersey. (For more information on those gatherings, visit: www.mmcatolico.org.)
“The Mass highlights the beauty of matrimony, the beauty of the sacrament,” Marcia Correa, who coordinates the MMC group with her husband Maximo, told The Good Newsroom in a January 23 phone interview. “Marriage was created by God from the start, and with this Mass, we highlight that value – the value of marriage. It is a work of God; without marriage, we could not have a society.”
Marcia Correa added that the Mass celebrations in honor of World Marriage Day focus on “the importance of the sacrament of marriage, when couples with the sacrament can renew their vows…And couples that do not have the sacrament receive a special prayer; we pray that God would permit them to soon reach that sacrament.”
The annual Mass began in 2007 at St. Angela Merici Church in the Bronx and has been celebrated at the cathedral since 2017. Movimiento Matrimonial Católico was established in 2000 by Maximo and Marcia Correa at the Merici parish, the couple’s longtime church. The Correa couple are parents of a grown daughter – all three are Dominican-born.
“The observances of National Marriage Week (February 7-14) and World Marriage Day (Sunday, February 9) are an opportunity to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states on its website. “This year’s theme is ‘Marriage: Source of Hope, Spring of Renewal. Pursue a Lasting Love!’”
For more resources to strengthen your marriage or advice for dating and engaged couples, visit www.foryourmarriage.org. (En Español: www.portumatrimonio.org)