Presentation BVM Couples Exchange Vows,  

Give Loving Witness on Jamaica Streets

Twenty-one couples leaped together into the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony in a grand ceremony at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Jamaica.

Each bride walked down the aisle to meet her groom waiting at the altar. Vows and intentions were repeated 40 times in Spanish and twice in English as each bride and groom declared their intention to love and respect one another.

Even though Father Manuel Rodriguez, pastor, echoed Jesus’ words 21 times, their gravity was felt each time in the packed church: “Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

“You bring new hope into our lives,” Father Rodriguez told the newlywed couples in his homily. “Remember it is today that God brought you together as one person.”

Once each couple sealed their love in covenant with one another, they left the church and processed through the streets of Jamaica declaring their love to all who passed. A man in a car driving by stopped to ask what was happening and could not believe the sheer number of newlyweds.