Holy Matrimony
The only way one can ever prove love is by making an act of choice; mere words are not enough. (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)
Invented by God, marriage it stands upon three foundations: faithfulness, permanence, fruitfulness (openness to children). A Catholic must receive the Sacrament of Matrimony in the Catholic Church. A Catholic who marries outside of the Catholic Church is joined only civilly, not permanently before God. Marriage preparation entails some meetings with the pastor, some meetings with a mentor couple and diocesan requirements (e.g. Natural Family Planning and a Saturday seminar).
Contact the pastor PRIOR to setting any wedding date. The first question he will ask is: “Have you or your fiancé been married before?” If the answer is “No”, we can proceed. If the answer is “Yes”, we cannot, until this situation has been rectified. The Catholic Church assumes that all marriages (Catholic and non-Catholic) are valid, unless they are proven otherwise.
The U.S. Catholic bishops' website foryourmarriage.org has excellent resources for everyone, including for planning a Catholic wedding. For music, please contact the Holy Family music director, Elizabeth Bates. Because the Sacrament of Matrimony is sacred and takes place within a Catholic church, music must be of sacred and not secular (“pop”) nature. The stipend for the wedding organist is $150.
“Living Together”
Women deserve better than “living together”. A real man protects his fiancé’s honor; he does not exploit it. “You can be quite certain that nobody who actually indulges in fornication or impurity or promiscuity - which is worshipping a false god - can inherit anything of the kingdom of God. Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments.” (Ephesians 5:5-6) Alongside fornication goes contraception, by which a man further misuses a woman. The way out? Stop. Repent. Chastity directs you to real love. Only by living sexually pure can a couple discover the answer to the question (and the whole point of the engagement period): "Is this the person that God calls me to marry for life and to raise children with?"
The marriage of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary
“May the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God Who joined together our first parents in paradise, strengthen and bless in Christ the consent you have declared before the Church, so that what God joins together, no one may put asunder.”