Welcome to the Marriage Preparation Process

for St. Brendan on the Lake

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding - 

 

The first step in planning your wedding is to arrange an appointment with the priest.  It is important to note that Marriage preparation programs should be completed six months to a year before your wedding.

Our hope is that you realize the importance of your role as a future married couple within the Catholic Church community through this process of marriage preparation.  Growing in faith, hope and love is a life long process that is essential to a truly happy, holy and lasting marriage.

 

Wedding Procedures - Please read carefully

1 - Arrange initial meeting with the priest who will officiate and/or prepare you for marriage.

2 - Arrange to take the Pre-Cana marriage preparation course.

3 - Make arrangements with the musician.

4-  Obtain marriage license.

 

Required Documents: 

1. Certificate of Baptism - It must be recent, i.e. issued within 6 months of submitting (for a Catholic).  If baptized in a Christian church, a copy of your original certificate of baptism will suffice.  Please make sure you obtain the church's mailing address in the process.

2. Confirmation Certificate - It can be a copy of the original, no need to ask for a new one.  Certificate of baptism often has a note of confirmation received.  Obtain your certificate of baptism first.

3.  Marriage certificate(s) of previous marriage(s) - If applicable only.  Submit them at the first meeting with the priest preparing you for marriage.

4.  Divorce Decree - If applicable only.  Submit it at the first meeting with the priest preparing you for marriage.

5. Marriage certificate (current)- If applicable only, i.e. you are already in a civil marriage, seeking Church convalidation.  Submit it at the first meeting with the priest preparing you for marriage.

 

Matrimony

Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with "the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7,9). Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church.

 

God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate his love in their relations with each other.  Man and woman were created for each other.  "It is not good that the man should be alone.  I will make a suitable partner for him.... The two of them become one body" (Gn 2:18; 24).  Woman and man are equal in human dignity, and in marriage both are united in an unbreakable bond.

 

Jesus brought to full awareness the divine plan for marriage.  In John's Gospel, Christ's first miracle occurs at the Wedding in Cana.  "The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the Wedding at Cana.  She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence" (CCC, no. 1613).

 

By their marriage, the couple witnesses Christ's spousal love for the Church.  One of the Nuptial Blessings in the liturgical celebration of marriage refers to this in saying, "Father, you have made the union of man and wife so holy a mystery that is symbolizes the marriage of Christ and his Church."

 

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenant, which is more than a contract.  Convenant always expresses a relationship between persons.  The marriage covenant refers to the relationship between the husband and wife, a permanent union of persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God.  The celebration of marriage is also a liturgical act, appropriately held in a public liturgy at church.  Catholics are urged to celebrate their marriage within the Eucharistic Liturgy.

 

 

 

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