They wed last month out in Ohio where her family is from, but they decided to have a second reception here in Pennsylvania for their CYACC friends!
CYACC stands for Catholic Young Adults of Chester County, and the group was formed in early 2010 (I think) by our friend Jonathan Strate, shortly after Lancaster Young Adult Catholics made its debut. Jon's vision was much greater than mine was; he aspired to have the young adults meet on a weekly basis to listen to a guest speaker talk about a relevant faith topic.
Thanks to Jon saying "Yes!" to the Holy Spirit's prompting, the CYACC group exploded with people and continues to thrive. It was there that James and Rachel met!
Rachel had come out from Ohio prior to this to work as an intern at the Theology of the Body Institute, just as I had done for a little while one summer. My friend Katherine (who used to work there) claims that I was the Institute's first-ever intern. :)
The couple sang for us a duet they wrote and sang just after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist during their wedding mass. There wasn't a dry eye in the church that day, we heard! It was just beautiful. Above is a picture of them singing!!
The food they served was delicious, and the favors were fantastic: Rosaries with pamphlets on how to pray the Rosary and how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy!
Thank you, Rachel and James, for inviting us to your wedding reception! We pray for all of God's blessings of family life to rain down upon you!
