Planning to tie the knot? Hold your horses.

Majority of Catholic priests will be in Manila for the Second National Congress of the Clergy later this month, and Masses including weddings in churches in the Visayas and Mindanao will temporarily be suspended for five days, a ranking Church official said.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales also said since the priests will not be in their parishes, lay ministers will be tasked to administer communion to the faithful and bless the dead during the five-day period.

“There are dioceses where 100 percent of the priests will be here together with the bishop so no one will be left (in the parishes). The Eucharistic ministers will be the ones to give communion and bless the dead,” he said in a press briefing.

Rosales said such practice is no longer new especially in Mindanao.

“That’s what we were doing in Mindanao way back, 20 years ago,” said Rosales, who was once assigned as bishop of Bukidnon.

Even Masses in Metro Manila, Rosales said, will also be adjusted to give way to the congress.

“Those in Metro Manila and nearby provinces will just hold early Masses,” he said.

“In Luzon, some of the priests will be shuttling; for example in Tagaytay they leave early in the morning and then they leave in the evening,” added Rosales.

The Cardinal said he knows the faithful will understand the need of priests for renewal.

“It’s time for parishioners to realize that we priests also need some quiet,” he said.

The Second National Congress of the Clergy will take place at the World Trade Center in Pasay City and will run from January 25 to 29.