A ring in the heater instead of on your finger
adminon December 29, 2021 January 5, 2022 Leave a Comment on A ring in the heater instead of on your finger
The merry month of May is the wedding month par excellence. There the most important day in the life is to remain in memory. Many bridal couples want something special. Pastor Regamy reports on his experiences with church weddings.
Interviewer: When it comes to weddings, there are always outlandish ideas: Underwater wedding in a diving suit. In a hot air balloon above the clouds. In church to the music of Helene Fischer. What was the most extraordinary wedding request you experienced?
Father Regamy Thillainathan (Director of the Diocesan Office for Vocations Ministry in the Archdiocese of Cologne): With years in ministry, you've experienced a lot of things. There are actually many requests where you are kind of irritated at the beginning. Is this meant seriously or is it more of a joke?? But most of them are really serious.
For example, I already had a request if I would be willing to marry them in their garden, because that's where they would prefer to be. I always respond seriously to the requests. Many things can be clarified in conversation and perhaps also make clear why I perhaps have a different position than the bride and groom.
But I think the most important thing, and the brides and grooms deserve this, is to first take them seriously. It's about their day and for them it feels like the most important day of their lives. And then they also have a right to be well accompanied on this day. And there are many things that can be made possible. But there are also limits in terms of dignity and location. On the other hand, there are also things that are perhaps not so simple after a closer look.
Interviewer: So getting married in the garden is not possible?
Father Regamy: No. But, I have shown them our churches. I was with them in one afternoon in all six churches of our parish and showed it to them. Then they have directly fallen in love with a church.
Interviewer: So the place should be a church?
Father Regamy: Yes, it also has to do with the meaning and importance of the sacrament, that this is also a place where this is expressed.
Interviewer: And how is it with the clothes? No one has ever stood before you in a diving suit?
Father Regamy: No, I have not experienced that yet. In spite of all these bizarre things, most people don't have a classic idea of what a church wedding is about.
Interviewer: What kind of music can be played at the wedding ceremony?? Have you ever had the wish to play Helene Fischer in front of the altar??
Rev. Regamy: I have also had secular music in the wedding ceremony. But there it requires a close look. Which songs fit at all and what the lyrics are. I always look at the texts together with the bride and groom and ask them if they are aware of what is being sung.
Sometimes it is so, that especially with English lyrics, people are surprised, what kind of lyrics they are. For example, on the famous song by Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah". There are texts that are very questionable. And when you go through the lyrics with them and they become aware of the content for the first time, you realize yourself how embarrassed they sometimes are because they hadn't noticed it before.
Interviewer: Foreign languages sometimes help?
Rev. Regamy: Exactly! To deal honestly and also with goodwill on the part of the pastoral care to seek the discussion with the bridal couple. To say to them: This is not possible, I find first of all not fair and secondly also impertinent towards the bride and groom.
That's why I always say I'll take the time and that several times to look at with the bride and groom, how does this story actually come about, that they want just this or just that. And what do you want? What is the message behind it? And let's get it in somehow? That's why: I pay attention to which songs are played during a wedding ceremony. Also together with the bride and groom. What fits and what doesn't fit? The strange things are rather the side ies or the side construction sites, which actually turn out to be traps in the end.
Interviewer: For example?
Rev. Regamy: I had once experienced that the bride and groom thought it was nice when the bride's nephew brought the rings forward. The nephew was two years old and simply lost a ring during the wedding ceremony. This is simply not noticed. And then when the ring was brought forward with a ceremonial escort, it was then noticed that one ring was missing. And then maybe they can imagine that first of all the big search started because they didn't know exactly where this ring was last seen.
I have also experienced that the rings were not to be brought forward until later and were on a tray. Then one of the rings took on a life of its own and rolled into the vents of the heater. The sexton had to come out and then remove this grating.
Since those first weddings, I also know pretty well that the rings have to be on the altar beforehand. That's where I had to gain my first experience as a newcomer to the profession. After that I said: I won't do it anymore!
Interviewer: "Beginners" is also a good keyword, because there are often people, visitors, relatives, friends, who have perhaps never been to church before and don't really know what they are supposed to do there? For example, this famous case of an uncle or a friend coming and standing there with a cell phone and really filming directly into the nostrils with the camera. What do you say when you have people like that in church??
Reverend Regamy: It doesn't happen to me at all, because before the wedding I go out of the sacristy into the church and greet people. I welcome them first. I am happy that they are here. I am also happy that so many people want to share this important day of the bride and groom with them. First of all welcome.
And then I'll give you two or three technical hints: First, that there are official photographers and that they should please refrain from taking pictures themselves. The second request is to see if they have their cell phones on silent or turned off so that there is not an awkward scene later in the wedding ceremony. And there you notice again and again that many people actually then start to turn off their cell phones or put them in silent mode.
Interviewer: And what has been your most extraordinary wedding so far?
Rev. Regamy: The most extraordinary wedding was, I think, a wedding in Nice of a young woman that I accompanied for years, that I more or less raised. And that was fascinating simply because there was a Coptic clergyman and there were the additional rites. I must also mention the luxury that these families have brought with them. Starting from the cars to how the church was decorated. That was already one of the most extraordinary weddings I've had.
The interview was conducted by Heike Sicconi.
"Flesh of the flesh of the church"
Thirty years ago, when the first twelve members of the Green Party entered the NRW state parliament, the bishops were speechless. But they had more in common than they thought. But on some ies there is still a problem.
Interviewer: What was it like back then, this relationship between the church and the Greens??
Antonius Hamers (head of the Catholic Office in Dusseldorf): If you look at the pictures from 30 years ago, it was quite a colorful group. In retrospect, one can imagine that some of the bishops had difficulties with the Greens and especially with their political positions. There were even declarations of incompatibility in the 1980s, when bishops said: "As a Catholic, you can't vote for these Greens."
At the same time, from the very beginning, a number of our own people – people who came from youth work – became active in the Green Party. To that extent, you can say that in a way the Greens are flesh from the flesh of the Church.
Interviewer: What were the ies that caused a stir back then??
Hamers: The main topics of discussion were equality ies. An important ie of contention was certainly the question of abortion. There was a lot of bickering about that. Unfortunately, other topics on which we have common ground, such as environmental protection and the preservation of creation, have been pushed into the background.
Interviewer: And what was the tone back then? Did they really get on each other's nerves or were they just stalking each other?
Hamers: In some cases there have also been clear and strong statements. At first, there was a certain speechlessness. But there were, thank God, some people who came from the environment of our Catholic youth work and who then contributed significantly to the fact that this speechlessness has become a capacity for speech.
Interviewer: Is that still the case today, that people from Catholic backgrounds are also active in the Green Party?
Hamers: Quite. There are still quite a few who also have a closeness to the Catholic Church, who are very much influenced by this. Last but not least, our commitment, especially in the area of youth, is definitely also appreciated by many in the Greens – as before.
Interviewer: You have already hinted at it. There is a lot of overlap today. Especially since the Pope's encyclical "Laudato si", where environmental protection, the preservation of creation, is at the top of the list. How is the relationship today?
Hamers: There is a whole series of policy areas in which there is a great deal of agreement. Of course, there are also ies where one disagrees. Especially in the area of preserving creation, I think there are a lot of points of contact. But also when it comes to the question of refugees, there are a number of similarities.
But let us pause for a moment on the subject of the preservation of creation. I believe that this topic was made a major social ie by the Greens in the first place. I believe that this is also an important topic for us as a church. Pope Francis has picked up on that. It must not be forgotten that Pope Benedict XVI. which it took up at the time in its speech to the Bundestag. The question of the integrity of creation is in this respect a topic that has moved us as a church for a long time, but thank God it has now been brought more into focus by "Laudato si".
Interviewer: And where are things still particularly sticky today?
Hamers: I believe that we as a church have learned a great deal from the Greens. The Greens have set topics that have also gradually become important for us as a church and which we have also taken up. In my opinion, the Greens initiated processes in society that were important. Let's take the question of refugee protection. Or a higher acceptance of people who have a migration background and who live in our country: not only refugees, but also people who have come to us as migrant workers. Also, as far as acceptance and respect for minorities are concerned.
Not least also for the topic of homosexuality. I believe that the Greens have also brought this positively into society and thus also to us as a church. At the same time, these are ies where we still have problems. With "marriage for all" we are of course not of one opinion. But when it comes to treating people with respect, I think we have learned a lot from the Greens. The Greens have initiated discussions and social developments – and we as a church have also benefited from them.
Borse rescued, long-term stability danger?
The conservative business press is less happy with the youngest decision of the US Federal Reserve Chief to be accepted
Yesterday's lowering of key interest rates by US Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan may have saved the boro courses before another crash, but it was therefore necessary to danger the long-term stability of economic development.
After the record gain of the Technology Orse Nasdaq and rising courses on all major borses worldwide as in a propagating wave movement, the world seems to be fine for investors again. Last but not least, the image of Greenspan is the "Point" Polished, to which the merit attributes for a ten-year economic recovery in the US and also as a rescuer of the global economy following the so-called "Asian financial crisis" 1997/98 is seen.
But not all see that. In a non-critical commentary, the Financial Times wrote in her presentation in the Lex Column:
"The development of the excesses of a surviving stock market is a painful but necessary process – and one of the one who has a wide distance in the case of technology values. By understanding [Greenspan] investors, that he comes to their salvation, whatever gift MOGE, he encourages excessive risk and the creation of more detailed Bubbles."
Once again, Greenspan has shown that he is ready to intervene when someone has scattered with excessive risk. As a result of the 1997/98 financial crisis, Hedge-Fund Long Term Capital Management was in trouble. Hedge funds are unregulated funds in which institutional investors bring in a huge amount of exception, which is then speculated in a way that exploits the highest technical subtleties of the market. Greenspan had orchestrated that banks brought a total of 3.5 billion dollars in Long Term Capital to save the hedge-find before the collapse. The reason was that with the collapse of such a coarse fund, the global financial system in a confidence crisis had come to.
However, what Greenspan has thus achieved, but above all, the discussion was to disable possible regulatory attempts of the global financial system. Some of the middle-left governments of the Western industrialized nations had been inclined to consider possibility, as above all the probation speculation could be stored. After the gross confidence crisis could be turned away again and the US economy raised two more extremely good years, such reform losses disappeared again from the agendas of the G8 conferences. Now Greenspan has been able to save the Borse's Borse for a short time, but the long-term stability has not done a good service. And yesterday's Borsen euphoria is already being summarized today, as the mirror economic edition texted.
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