MARRIAGE

The love of a woman and man is always a beautiful sacrament to celebrate. The public witness to love and commitment sealed in the love of God for the couple always brings great blessing to them and the community in which they live and worship.

Criteria

One of the couples must be a baptised Catholic.

Neither couple should have been married before.

The couple should live within the parish they wish to get married in.

A man and a woman give and receive each other by an irrevocable covenant to constitute a partnership of the spouses’ entire life, a partnership ordered, by its nature to the good of the spouse and the procreation and education of children.

There are four obligations in the wedding vows –

Fidelity – faithfulness and unity within the marriage

Perpetuity – the permanence and indissolubility of the marriage vows

Children – couples have to be open to the gift of children within their marriage

The Good of the Spouse – living the marriage in truthfulness, understanding of the others needs and the ability to love and be loved.

Process

The couple would normally see the Parish Priest for several sessions to talk about the above criteria.

A marriage course led by lay coupes would need to be attended – often just a day’s course in the parish or in a near by parish with other couples.

Marriages also need to be registered at the Civic Centre