Marriage & Marriage Preparation

Hi!  My name is Richard Johnson. I'm the Adult and Family Ministry Director here at Holy Spirit. If you're planning to marry in the Catholic Church or at Holy Spirit parish, all of us here are thrilled for you and want to help you prepare for a wonderful life together. Marriage is a Sacrament and a lifelong vocation, so it takes a while to get ready!  Here's some information to help you get started:

Your contact people:
Richard Johnson richardjohnson@holyspiritcc.org 972-298-4971 ext. 23
Melisa Limones melisalimones@holyspiritcc.org 972-298-4971 ext. 26

First Steps
Marrying in the Catholic Church
Getting Married at Holy Spirit
Marriage Preparation
Sponsor Couple Program
Checklists

FIRST STEPS
 

• Please contact me or my colleague Melisa Limones at least 9 months prior to your proposed wedding date.  We'll discuss your freedom to marry in the Catholic Church and what that means (and what to do if it looks like you might not be), and I'll ask for your contact info.  I'll send you a list of the documents that you'll need to obtain. (See below.) It'll be very helpful for you to start collecting those documents before our first meeting. 

 

• We'll then make an appointment to meet--ideally, all three of us: bride, groom, and me.
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• If you're free to marry, we usually can set the date at that first meeting. 

 

• To marry in the Catholic Church, one of you must be a baptized Catholic. To marry at Holy Spirit, one of you must be a registered member here. 

 

• Very important: Do not schedule a venue for a reception until Melisa or I inform you in writing that your proposed wedding date and time have been approved and confirmed on the parish calendar. 
• We do not schedule weddings during the liturgical seasons of Advent or Lent, because the parish calendar is so full. 

• Marriage Preparation is part of getting married in the Catholic Church. It's an investment that the Church makes--and you make--in your marriage.  Here at Holy Spirit, Marriage Preparation consists of taking a relationship inventory, meeting five times with a sponsor couple in their home, and particpating in a one-day workshop.  The whole process is fun (though it may be stretching)--and it probably will be the most valuable investment of a few hours that you ever will make!

 

GETTING MARRIED IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Marrying in the Catholic Church is a beautiful gift!  It's much more than having your wedding in a particular building. Catholic marriage is a sacrament.  But what does that mean?

When the Catholic Church teaches that marriage between two baptized persons is a sacrament, it is saying that the couple’s relationship expresses in a unique way the unbreakable bond of love between Christ and his people. Like the other six sacraments of the Church, marriage is a sign or symbol which reveals the Lord Jesus and through which his divine life and love are communicated. All seven sacraments were instituted by Christ and were entrusted to the Church to be celebrated in faith within and for the community of believers. The rituals and prayers by which a sacrament is celebrated serve to express visibly what God is doing invisibly.

In a sacramental marriage, God’s love becomes present to the spouses in their total union and also flows through them to their family and community. By their permanent, faithful and exclusive giving to each other, symbolized in sexual intercourse, the couple reveals something of God’s unconditional love. The sacrament of Christian marriage involves their entire life as they journey together through the ups and downs of marriage and become more able to give to and receive from each other. Their life becomes sacramental to the extent that the couple cooperates with God’s action in their life and sees themselves as living “in Christ” and Christ living and acting in their relationship, attitudes and actions.

Catholic teaching holds that sacraments bring grace to those who receive them with the proper disposition. Grace is a way of describing how God shares the divine life with us and gives us the help we need to live as followers of Christ. In marriage, the grace of this sacrament brings to the spouses the particular help they need to be faithful and to be good parents. It also helps a couple to serve others beyond their immediate family and to show the community that a loving and lasting marriage is both desirable and possible.

- http://www.foryourmarriage.org/marriage-as-sacrament

When you marry in the Catholic Church, you as groom and bride are making a covenant with each other and with God to make Him the center of your lives and to give yourselves totally to each other.  You are committing to love each other with self-giving love--freely, fully, faithfully, and fruitfully.  Your marriage preparation and participation in the life of the Church will help you understand what all this means and how to live it out.




THINKING ABOUT GETTING MARRIED AT HOLY SPIRIT?  That's wonderful!  We're eager to talk with you.

• The very first thing to do--before setting a date, before reserving a reception venue, before ordering invitations--is to contact us, at least nine months prior to your proposed wedding date.

If you have any previous marriages that ended in divorce and have not been annulled, please contact us at least two years before your proposed wedding date.  

• In order to marry in the Catholic Church, at least one of you must be a baptized Catholic.

 

• In order to marry at Holy Spirit, at least one of you must be a registered parishioner.

 

• For the benefit of your future together, we encourage you to marry at the parish in which you will be active as a married couple, and also to do your marriage preparation there.

In order to set a date, you will need to:

• Obtain, if you are Catholic, a "current baptismal certificate with notations." Contact the parish where you were baptized and request a "current baptismal certificate with notations."  If you both are Catholic, you both will need to obtain this certificate.

If you are a baptized Christian, but not Catholic, you will need to obtain some form of documentation of your baptism from the church where you were baptized.

• Meet with Richard or Melisa

 

• Pay the $200 Church Facility Use fee.

(There never is a charge for any sacrament itself.  Marriage fees cover the cost of building use, services, and materials.)

MARRIAGE PREPARATION - Marriage Preparation is part of getting married in the Catholic Church. It's an investment that the Church makes, and that you make, in your marriage. You and your family will receive dividends for a lifetime!  Here at Holy Spirit, the two of you meet several times with a sponsor couple (see below).


SPONSOR COUPLE PROGRAM - A series of Marriage Preparation sessions that gives a couple the opportunity to develop necessary skills for succeeding in marriage today and also emphasizes faith formation as an essential ingredient for the journey. It provides a personal approach, addressing the unique needs and issues of the couple as they work with a couple trained in marriage ministry in preparation for celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony.

Marriage Preparation Checklist (English)
Marriage Preparation Checklist (Spanish)
Wedding Ceremony Reading and Prayer Selection Form
 
For more information, contact Richard Johnson , Adult and Family Ministry Director.

 

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  Introductory Rite

1. Collect / Opening Prayer                  _______            Page _____

Liturgy of the Word

2. Old Testament Reading                   _____               Page ____        Read By: ________________________
3. Responsorial Psalm (Sung by Cantor) – to be selected with the Music Director
4. New Testament Reading                  _____   Page _______   Read By: ________________________
5. Alleluia Verse (Sung by Cantor) – to be selected with the Music Director
6. Gospel Reading                              _____   Page _____ Read by Presiding Priest or Deacon

Celebration of Matrimony

7. Questions before Consent               ______
8. Consent/Marriage Vow                     ______ How?  ___Consent through questions ___Recited after priest

Reception of Consent__________

1. Blessing and Giving of Rings                                   ______

Blessing and Giving of the Arras (Optional)______Page ______
(optional) Bible______Yes _______No
(Optional) Rosary______Yes_______No

10. Universal Prayer                  ________          Page _______   Read by: _______________________

 
If you are not celebrating Mass, skip to letter M (blessing/placing of Lasso/Veil)

Liturgy of the Eucharist
Approximately, how many will receive Communion (host to be consecrated) _________
Presentation of the Gifts Brought forward by: __________________________________

11. Prayer Over the Offerings    ________          Page _________
12. Preface                   _________ Page _________
13. Blessing and placing of Lasso or Veil (optional) ____Yes      No _____          _____   Page ______

Nuptial Blessing______Page ______
Flowers to Mary after (optional) ______ Yes_____No

14. Prayer After Communion      _______            Page ______

Conclusion

15. Final Blessing         ______              Page _______

Other Comments, Special Elements, or Alternatives in the Ceremony:
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
At the end of the ceremony, Presider to announce the couple as ______________________________________ (Examples: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Mr. & Mrs. John Smith, Jane & John Smith, John & Jane Smith, etc.)