The brides gathered at the back of Immaculate Conception Church, 2745 W. 44th St., complimented one another, adjusted their veils and kept their eyes on the small children who darted around their skirts before lining up for the entrance procession. The grooms, fidgeting in a room next to the sacristy, cracked nervous jokes and waited for the signal to take their places in front of the congregation. All told, nine couples — all of whom have been civilly married for years — participated in a June 26 “community wedding” at which their marriages were convalidated by the church. Receiving the sacrament of matrimony brought the couples into full communion with the church, allowing them to receive the Eucharist. “I haven’t had Communion since I was 15,” said Melissa Ortiz, 29, who had been together with her husband, Antonio, since they were in high school. The couple has been married civilly for 11 years and had four children, with a fifth expected shortly. “My daughter did her first Communion and I was so embarrassed I couldn’t go up with her.” Father Manuel Dorantes, the pastor at Immaculate Conception, raised the idea of a community wedding earlier this year because he was aware that a number of couples in the parish had civil marriages — which confer the legal benefits of marriage — but had not been married in the church. While it might be common in some areas for people in that situation to receive Communion anyway, that’s not the practice in his parish, Dorantes said. “They take it very seriously,” he said. But they also took seriously their desire to have not just a marriage but a wedding, with a wedding dress and flowers and a party and their families around them. “I think the celebration is tied so strongly into the idea of the sacrament in this culture, as it is in every culture, I think,” Dorantes said. So he suggested a community wedding, with each couple contributing and other people donating to help cover the cost of a photographer and videographer and a reception at nearby Five Holy Martyrs Parish. The idea went over so well that the parish had to schedule two wedding Masses. The first was June 26; another, with 10 couples planning to receive the sacrament of matrimony, will be in September, Dorantes said. “This is something we always wanted to do,” said Leticia Navarro, who was civilly married to Aurelio Hernandez 23 years ago. “But we never decided when. It’s maybe excuses. His family is in Mexico, and my family is here with me. His family could never all come here, and my family was never all together in Mexico. But when this came up, we decided to do it. ” Navarro and Hernandez have three children, ages 23, 21 and 8. “They’re all excited for us,” she said. During the nuptial Mass, each couple came forward to pronounce their vows and exchange their rings. The rite included several Mexican traditions, such as the customary gifts given by the couples madrinos and padrinos (madrinos and padrinos are a type of sponsor), dozens of whom filled the pews in the front section of the church. In addition to presenting the couples with their rings, the padrinos presented coins; Bibles; wedding lassos, often in the form of a large rosary; and flowers to present to the Virgin Mary. Having gone through marriage preparation together, the couples became friends and have been a source of support to one another, they said. “Now we are friends,” said Rogelio Cervantes before the wedding. “After this, we will be brothers.” After the Mass, the couples took photos in front of the altar and regrouped with their families. Eloisa and Luis Orozco, together 18 years, married civilly 16 years and married in the church that day, smiled broadly at their children, Fernando, 16; Alysie, 8; and Aylin, 6. “I feel great,” Eloisa Orozco said. “I do feel different,” Navarro said, after exchanging vows with Hernandez more than two decades after her civil wedding and receiving the Eucharist for the first time in 25 years. “It’s wonderful.”
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