To each his own: New York Times prints "Scientology Vows" from the upcoming TomKat wedding

[Human Torch]

For Mrs. Cruise, Perhaps a Cat

By NADINE BROZAN
Published: November 12, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/weddings/12field.html

IF Tom Cruise, a devotee of the Church of Scientology, weds Katie Holmes in Italy on Saturday, as his spokesman has announced, the event may well be a Scientology ceremony.

If so, the bridegroom might hear the Scientology minister proffer this advice, part of what the church refers to as the traditional ceremony: “Now, Tom, girls need clothes and food and tender happiness and frills, a pan, a comb, perhaps a cat. All caprice if you will, but still they need them.” And Ms. Holmes could be told: “Hear well, sweet Katie, for promise binds. Young men are free and may forget. Remind him then that you may have necessities and follies, too.”

Unlike other components of Scientology, which are often cloaked in mystery and controversy, the words spoken at weddings tend to be easy to grasp. In some ways ceremonies performed by Scientology ministers resemble those of mainstream religions.

Brides dressed in white are escorted down the aisle by their fathers, said the Rev. John Carmichael, the president of the Church of Scientology of New York and the spokesman for 12 churches in New York and New Jersey. They may be attended by bridesmaids and flower girls. Music is a matter of individual choice, there is invariably a celebration of some kind, and many of the promises are familiar: to love, honor and be faithful through life’s vicissitudes. “Our view of marriage and the family is a traditional view, so the wedding ceremony is traditional,” Mr. Carmichael said.