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

Whether you're newly engaged or married for 50 years or more, Holy Spirit's Marriage Ministry helps you keep your marriage growing in love and joy, with opportunities for enrichment, fellowship, support, and spiritual formation.

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.

- 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.

• Meet with Richard or Melisa

• Pay the $200 Church Facility Use fee.

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 ENRICHMENT - A monthly date night (with childcare provided) where couples of all ages enjoy fun together, a potluck, videos and discussion to grow your marriage, and making friends.  Throughout fall 2018 and spring 2019, Marriage Enrichment will be doing The Choice Wine (below).  Click here for dates and times

THE CHOICE WINE: 7 STEPS TO A SUPERABUNDANT MARRIAGE - A nine-session Catholic video and discussion series, offered periodically here at Holy Spirit, that places married and engaged couples on a path to virtually divorce-proof their marriages, truly encounter the superabundant love and of God and learn how to share that love with others, and experience a taste of paradise in their families.  Click here for dates and times

WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER - Designed to give married couples the opportunity to examine their lives together through a weekend experience designed to strengthen communication and intimacy skills in marriage and to better understand God's plan for marriage. Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends are held offsite.  It's not a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalizing marriage.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter's mission of renewal in the Church and change in the world is to assist couples to live fully intimate and responsible relationships by providing them with a Catholic ''experience'' and ongoing community support for such a lifestyle. Both parties in the marriage do not have to be Catholic to attend a weekend. Weekends are offered in several other religious denominations as well.  For more information, go to www.dfwme.org/.

VALENTINE'S CELEBRATION - Every February we celebrate Valentine's and World Marriage Day with a dinner and dance.

PARISH ANNIVERSARY DINNER - Once a year we honor all parish couples celebrating milestone anniversaries: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and every anniversary beyond 50 with a special banquet!
 

 For more information, contact the Adult and Family Ministry office:
Richard Johnson richardjohnson@holyspiritcc.org 972-298-4971 ext. 23
Melisa Limones melisalimones@holyspiritcc.org 972-298-4971 ext. 26

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Wonderful websites
with free information, articles, and studies from the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops!

http://www.foryourmarriage.org/

http://www.portumatrimonio.org/

http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/