Smells like indulgence-selling

Manila cardinal bans weddings outside churches

MANILA, Nov. 27, 2009—The head of Manila’s Roman Catholic Church has banned wedding rites from being held outside the churches.

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said that for a couple to get married outside a parish church was contrary to the meaning of Christian marriage.

“All Catholic marriages within the Archdiocese of Manila should be held within the parish churches,” Rosales said in a circular issued to his clergy recently.

Sounds more like it's contrary to the diocese's bottom-line.

Pot-kettle

Baptist pastor Jim West criticized a Roman Catholic bishop for this:

The Bishop of Siguenza-Guadalajara, Jose Sanchez, said there was a risk that Halloween could “replace Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead.”

He goes on to say:

How about abandoning all the superstition and Halloween at the same time? Now that would be cool.

Welcome to atheism, pastor Jim! :)