MARRIAGE

Marriage

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…Woman and man are equal in human dignity, and in marriage both are united in an unbreakable bond.
(United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, Ch. 21, p. 279)

St. Francis of Assisi Parish is excited to accompany engaged couples as they prepare for their vocation of marriage The Catechetical Directory states that “In her motherly concern the Church accompanies her children throughout their entire lifespan. She recognizes however that some moments are decisive passages in which people more readily allow themselves to be touched by God’s grace and become open to making a journey of faith (#232).” If the couple have not yet registered with the parish, marriage preparation is the perfect time to form that relationship. We are anxious to support and assist engaged couples as they begin this journey. Couples planning to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage must contact a parish priest or deacon at least six months prior to the wedding. For further information call 410-792-0470 or email Becki.

Marriage Preparation Options

There are several options for an engaged couple to prepare for marriage: Sponsor Couple, the Catholic Engaged Encounter, and the Pre-Cana Conference. Each program addresses key aspects of married life, including communications, finances, lifestyle, parenting, and spirituality.

The priest or deacon who is accompanying you in your preparation will review the options when you meet with him.

The Catechetical Directory states that “Along these paths it is appropriate to make use of the generous and valuable help of other couples with long-standing experience in marriage. (#232).” Therefore, one of the options for marriage preparation is our Sponsor Couple program where the engaged couple meet with a long-married couple for seven sessions. The engaged couple and the sponsor couple set the schedule.

The Pre-Cana Conference is offered for our Pastorate. Married couples and a priest/deacon lead gatherings of approximately 12 couples to reflect on such issues as communications, decision-making, intimacy, finances, and spirituality. A conference consists of two five-hour sessions, scheduled on consecutive weekends at various times of the year.

The Catholic Engaged Encounter is an in-depth, private, personal, marriage preparation experience within the context of Catholic faith and values. Catholic Engaged Encounter is a weekend retreat away with other engaged couples with plenty of time alone together to dialogue honestly and intensively about their prospective lives together. Trained facilitators lead discussions on key aspects of married life. Engaged Encounters are scheduled by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Go to www.mdcee.org for the schedule and details.

Planning your Wedding Ceremony

There are several options available for planning your wedding ceremony, including Wedding during Mass or Wedding outside of a Mass. Please click HERE for parish resources and guidance as the engaged couple prepare their ceremony.

Further, there are options for a wedding at a different Catholic Church, at a non-Catholic Church, and outdoors. Please check this website from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: https://www.usccb.org/topics/marriage-and-family-life-ministries/wedding-ceremony. Options can be discussed with the parish.

Convalidation

Those couples who have married outside the Catholic Church can have their marriage blessed at the parish, which re-creates full communion with the sacramental life of the Church.

Annulment Process

The Catholic Church supports persons who have legally divorced and allows them to seek a sacramental annulment. This process is an opportunity to review all the circumstances of one’s initial decision to marry and examine whether that decision was mature, conscious, and free of coercion or fear. The annulment process can be an experience of personal, spiritual, and relational healing. Information on how this process is found on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s website at https://www.archbalt.org/marriage-tribunal/

Please contact Becki Kaman to connect with the clergy regarding weddings, convalidations, and the annulment process. All conversations are considered confidential.

Marriage is a Covenant

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people with Abraham and later with Moses at Mt. Sinai. This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.

The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661)

The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. It’s this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)

The Church takes the lifelong nature of the Sacrament of Marriage seriously. The Church teaches that a break in this covenant teaches goes against the natural law of God:

The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith. (CCC 1665)

Marriage Reflects the Holy Trinity

We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God’s image for the purpose of communion with another human being.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2205). The Sacrament of Marriage is “unitive, indissoluble and calls us to be completely open to fertility.” Christian marriage at its finest is a reflection of God’s self-giving love expressed between the love of two people.