A PROPOSED RITE FOR THE RENEWAL OF MARRIAGE VOWS: THE SPECTRUM OF IGBO-NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper proposes a new rite for the renewal of marriage vows. The new rite is necessitated by the apparent conflicting rites adopted by several priests in the celebration of the joyful rite of renewal of marriage vows, within Igbo-Nigerian terrain. Granted that the Eucharistic liturgy allows for authentic liturgical inculturation, ad hoc, fire-brigade approach, haphazard, over dramatization and unwholesome words and gestures in the Eucharistic celebration are considered not only an aberration, falsification, and abuse, but also foreign to the classical liturgy of the universal and local Church. In the long run, they give an impression as if another Christian wedding has taken place. Using an expository, investigative, and analytic method, the paper argues that whether within Mass (intra missam) or outside Mass (extra missam), renewal of the marriage vows is one of such ways through which God’s continual blessings and presence in the union is sought by the couple. Whenever the renewal is celebrated, the words and gestures of the ceremony must be explained very clearly and carried out in such manners not to duplicate wedding day; instead, it is a blessing of the already existing bond created by the original sacramental bond that is being celebrated.