It's a treat to the eyes and the soul to watch a wedding at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Nashville.
The great care and respect to the societal tradition and to the Church are on display from the youngest to the oldest.
The maids of honor and the parents, godparents and grandparents are part of the wedding procession. There also are plenty of children. All girls and women are dressed in white out of respect to Our Lady and her most immaculate heart. The girls carry the trains of all the white gowns.
The people in the procession seem to number as great as those in the pews. We remember that our children are watching and reacting to everything we do. So let's make a positive statement in culture and faith.
But tradition and culture adapt, be it Hispanic or simply All-American. Yesterday's wedding was led with the song "Here Comes the Bride". Communion featured a moving recording of Ave Maria.
Teens and young women who were not part of the wedding party still dressed well. It looked like a Salma Hayek family reunion. Que bonita! What beauty!
But these young women are not unescorted. Their mothers are with them keeping a close eye. Or their brothers are watching. This is respect, this is tradition, this is our heritage.
So is promoting the family. These also are American virtues. These are the virtues promoted in the wedding of my mother at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Topeka, KS., when she -- as an American citizen born in this country -- married a World War Navy veteran, my father.
It was the same for my Aunt Pauline, who married Espirion Gutierrez after he served his nation on the bloody battlefields in the Pacific in World War II. And so it was for my aunt Mary, who married an Army Air Corps veteran who served on a B-17 as a middle gunner and rescued two his comrades before their plane crashed behind enemy lines.
Americans all. And all my heroes.
For those politicians still seeking to separate us by the color of our skin and the accent in our language, you will not prevail. You did not stop the American Dream in people who look like me more than a half century ago. Yesterday's wedding and the many to come prove that you won't succeed in this century either.
God is here, and so is an American tradition.
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