Homily: The Wedding of Carole Moore and John Wagner

This past weekend I had the honor to officiate the wedding of a longtime friend, Carole Moore, who has directed the Children’s Choir at our parish of St. Paul Church in Princeton for over 30 years. Having lost her husband, and my dear friend, to cancer some 10 years ago – it was one of the first funerals I served as a Deacon.

Allowing God to open her eyes, Carole met a wonderful man, John Wagner, whose 40 year marriage ended with the death of his wife from cancer a few years ago. With a combined 65 years of marriage to their former spouses, they came to this new union as people who have learned that marriage requires you to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things in good times and bad…and certainly in sickness and in health. Their earlier marriages gave them knowledge and insight as well as a broken and mended heart. So walking alongside John and Carole this past year has been a blessing for me as I have had a front seat to witnessing their “seasoned love.” So let me tell you a bit of what that looks like…

To listen to the recording of the homily, click here

To read a transcript of the Homily, click here

Homily: Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A common conversation around the water cooler (where you can still find one!) may be to talk less that kindly about the “in-laws.” Well, not in my case.  For one of the biggest blessings in my life was to marry into my wife’s family.  Teresa is one of seven children of Peter and Patricia Poloney.  So trust me, I could start a whole new blog with stories of the great gatherings we have had around the family kitchen table over these many years. Actually those gatherings have been filled with many, many blessings.  And this weekend is one of them as we gather together as family to celebrate the 60^th wedding anniversary of Pete and Pat.  And where else would we start the celebration, other than at the table of the Lord.

Grateful to be asked to preach at their Sunday’s parish mass, click the link to see how I tied in the story of the egocentric James and John who ask to sit on the left and right of Christ….with the lives of my dear in-laws.

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Using Social Media to Celebrate the Sacred

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During the course of the year, I am blessed to work with many couples in the preparation for their wedding.  This includes the theology of the sacrament, discussions over the results of their FOCCUS survey as well as mapping out their liturgy.

While I did not necessarily work with my friends Meredith Gould (@meredithgould) and Rev. Dan Webster (@RevWeb) on their wedding prep, I was blessed to offer the homily during their liturgy.  What was most different about their ceremony was that their wedding was being live-streamed over the internet, allowing many social media friends and connections to virtually experience the ceremony.  Trust me, it wasn’t intrusive, most did not know it was happening and for me it was an ultimate way to blend the sacred and secular!

Well it did not take long for Meredith to write about this experience and how one can use social media in their wedding planning.  As Meredith reports in her own blog, the finished product Getting #Married is now available in print or on Kindle.  To read the author’s own review and information on how to get a copy of the book, simply click here.

Congrats to Meredith…and Dan!!

Homily: Meredith's and Dan's Wedding

What does a Catholic Deacon say in a wedding homily for two of his closest friends: a Jewish convert to Catholicism who is a social media guru marrying a Catholic convert to Episcopalian who is a priest?

On top of it all Meredith (@meredithgould) and Dan (@RevWeb) both were walking down the aisle a third time (#3XCharm). Click here and see what light I was able to shed!