i am in love with this column. This woman is just so.. wise! she is so proficient at dissecting the truth and the right from the wrong so aptly!

Q. Catholic Wedding Etiquette: My cousin is marrying a Catholic woman (we are Episcopalian) in a Catholic church. My children are 9, 7, and 4, and were included in the invitation to both the full service and the reception following. I love my cousin, but I do not want to attend a full Catholic service. I do not agree with a lot of the teachings of the Catholic church, I do not appreciate that I cannot take Communion, and the sheer length of the event followed by a reception is too much for my children to handle. When I brought this up with my aunt, she told me that it is rude to attend the reception only and that I need to put my personal feelings aside for the day. I think they are asking some pretty big compromises in the name of their wedding. I love this column and the responses to follow, so any advice you have I would appreciate. What would you do in this situation?

A: Attending a wedding at someone else's church does not imply endorsement of all that denomination's teachings. It's an endorsement of the marriage of two people you presumably care about. It's nice of your cousin to include your children in the invitation, but you should probably just get a baby sitter for them. That way you can just enjoy yourself and not worry about handling restless kids. If you can't make that work then decline and send a lovely gift.