For many mainstream ministers, it\u2019s a moment of humor, celebration and a touch of world-weary irony.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s the rite at the end of the white wedding, long after the symbolic handoff of the blushing bride from the father to the groom, the litany of modernized vows and the lifting of the bride\u2019s veil. That\u2019s when the minister gives the new husband permission, at last, to \u201ckiss the bride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat patsies these poor clergy members must feel like,\u201d quips journalist Caitlin Flanagan, in her saucy, yet poignant memoir \u201cTo Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The typical minister must feel a flash of shame as he or she is \u201cforced into the role of a sexual naif primly instructing a young man who has been living with his girlfriend for the past three years that he may \u2018kiss the bride.\u2019 Well why not? He\u2019s been doing God knows what else to her since the night they met at the softball league happy hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Consider, she added, the bride-to-be who \u201cspent down her sexual capital a little too early in the game.\u201d She shared her dilemma in Brides magazine: \u201cI promised my fianc<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For many mainstream ministers, it\u2019s a moment of humor, celebration and a touch of world-weary irony. It\u2019s the rite at the end of the white wedding, long after the symbolic handoff of the blushing bride from the father to the groom, the litany of modernized vows and the lifting of the bride\u2019s veil. That\u2019s when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[181,358,442,1540,596],"class_list":["post-1397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-childreading","tag-feminists","tag-housewives","tag-marriage","tag-new-yorker"],"yoast_head":"\n