In this podcast, Father Dave discusses the recent announcement from the Archdiocese of Baltimore that will allow weddings to be held outdoors. He explains the mindset behind this development and how it may be a way to evangelize.

Father Dave points out that the Archbishop of Baltimore is trying to reach out to younger people. “He is trying to reduce, and maybe even eliminate, a lot of those hurdles that get in the way of us connecting with a younger generation. … The theology and law of marriage doesn’t change, but that’s always somehow balanced with a pastoral outreach. Quite frankly, over the last 30 years, we’ve seen a lot of people not getting married in the Church.”

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“They’re not just throwing theology and Church law out and saying, ‘Let’s do what the people want to do,’” Father Dave says. “But how can we look at the signs of the times and maybe see if this can make a dent in evangelizing people? Evangelization and mission is one of the Church’s primary functions. Well then, we need to evaluate everything based on that. Even our procedures and standard policies. How much are we evangelizing? And how much are we doing the opposite of evangelizing, which is, somebody is baptized and raised in the Church and walk away. Yeah, sure, part of it is on them, but we can’t just sit back with our arms crossed and say it’s on them. Part of it is on us.”

Father Dave points out that marriage outdoors will not affect the validity of the Sacrament. And explains that the Archdiocese of Baltimore is trying this as an experiment for a year or two. So far, 20 couples have taken advantage of this new policy. (Original Air 6-13-18)