With
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RingCeremony
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Wedding Guidelines
The following guidelines will help you as you make your marriage plans.
Contact
the Church where you were baptized and ask for a recently dated copy of your
Baptismal certificate.
Parishes are used to providing this information, and it is usually
obtained by a simple phone call to the parish secretary.
Normally
adult Catholics have celebrated all the Sacraments of Initiation -- Baptism,
Confirmation, and Eucharist -- before marrying.
Our RCIA Coordinator,
Deacon John (585-5675) will assist you if there is a need to complete the
process of initiation.
To
help in the preparation process, you will be asked to complete a marital
inventory indicator, called
FOCCUS.
This tool provides assistance in articulating the values that we hold
sacred and value highly in couple communication.
All couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage are required to participate in a Pre-Cana session. St. Louis Pre Cana is offered in a one-day format to those couples preparing for Christian Marriage.
The Pre Cana team is made
up of enthusiastic married couples who share their experiences of
life, love and being a part of a faith community. Engaged couples
participate in small group discussions, couples activities and
finish the day by attending 4:30pm mass as a group. The session begins at 8:30 a.m. in the parish hall (located off
the church courtyard) and concludes with the 4:30 p.m. Mass.
Please register for the Pre-Cana session at the Ministry Center at least
one month before the session.
You
may also register in any diocesan sponsored Pre-Cana or engaged encounter.
With
This
RingCouples
may plan to be married at either a Nuptial Mass or a Nuptial Ceremony.
Either celebration will be well planned by the couple, together with the
priest or deacon who presides.
It
is our hope that your wedding ceremony reflects the spirituality of your
relationship. If
the Eucharist is a significant part of your life, it follows that the Nuptial
Mass would be the appropriate context of your wedding ceremony.
If the Mass is not part of the way you pray, we would encourage the
Nuptial Ceremony.
Please talk this over with the priest or deacon who is presiding at your
wedding.
Weddings
are scheduled on Saturdays at 11:30AM or 2:00 PM. Weddings without a mass
are possible on Saturday evening or on Sunday depending on the availability of a
Deacon.
If
you wish to have a visiting priest officiate at your ceremony, you are welcome
to do so. All
other expectations would be the same.
The marriage preparation would still be done with
Father Kevin or Deacon John Payne.
The music is arranged with Stephanie
Honz as the organist, and Bea
Hack would be the wedding coordinator.
If
one of you is of another faith and would like to have a minister or rabbi be
part of the ceremony, that would be most welcome.
Please mention this at the time of your initial planning.
At
the time of your initial interview with the priest or deacon, you will receive a
book entitled CELEBRATING MARRIAGE by Paul Covino.
We very much want your celebration to reflect your choices of prayers,
readings, and special participation. At
your third interview with the priest or deacon, you will review with him your
completed liturgy planning form.
Some
of the ways in which family members and friends can participate in special ways
are:
