Churching of Women for Katherine

Our priest also performed his first ceremony of the Churching of Women. There isn't a Novus Ordo version of this ancient ceremony, which has all but disappeared, but there is no reason the old ceremony can't be celebrated. It's a beautiful event for new mothers: "Churching is the woman's way of giving [thanks] to God for the birth of her child, and predisposes her, through the priestly blessing that is a part of the ritual, to receive the graces necessary to raise her child in a manner pleasing to God." (It is not a purification ritual, a common misperception.) Motherhood is hard enough and I'm not one to turn down free graces!

The ritual begins outside the church and proceeds inside, to represent the woman's being welcomed back after having her baby. (The Church permits women to be released from Mass for six weeks after even an uncomplicated birth without any culpability. Of course, a complicated birth or any health problems would release a woman from her obligation to attend Mass for as long as it took for the problems to be resolved.)


Father leading me into the church (I am on his left, his stole is over my arm, reminiscent of how he places his stole over the baby when the baby is led into the church):

I gave thanks for my two precious children and husband, my new daughter, and my healthy pregnancy and delivery!