"Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church."
Pope John Paul II
Marriage Preparation
Holy Family has a wonderful ministry to prepare engaged couples for marriage. Part of the program is the couples participation in the Engaged Encounter Weekend. The Immaculate Heart Retreat Center in Spokane, WA offers this program. For further information and registration visit their website at www.eespokane.org. There are also three Engaged Encounter Weekends at St Gertrudes's Spirit Center in Cottonwood, ID. For registration and information visit www.ceelewiston.org.
Marriage Licence Requirements
Your marriage at Holy Family Church is also a legal civil union. You must obtain a marriage license from the Asotin County Clerk to be legally married here. The license should be obtained not more than 60 days before the wedding. Once the license is procured, drop it off at the church office. It must be on file before the rehearsal begins. A priest violates the law if he witnesses a marriage without the license. Both of you must apply in person for the license. For further information, contact the Clerk’s office at (509) 243–2027.
The Sacrament of Marriage
The Sacrament of Marriage is an invitation from God for a man and woman to deepen their experience of the love of God by joining in a covenant relationship with each other. As a sacrament, their relationship must be an “outward sign,” or give witness, to others as a faithful, life–long union which is open to bringing life into the world. The vocation of marriage requires that you enter into this sacrament with freedom and with full knowledge of the challenges, responsibilities and joys of married life.
This sacrament is the beginning of your life–long commitment and it is rooted in love of God and supported by the community of faith. The exchange of marriage vows in the sacrament is a pledge to love, respect and nurture each other all the days of your life together.
Meetings With the Marriage Ministry Team
The marriage preparation program at Holy Family Church will consist of approximately four or five meetings with the priest. After you initially contact the parish office expressing interest in celebrating your wedding at Holy Family, you will be contacted by the priest to arrange to meet at the parish office at a mutually convenient time. Because your time of preparation will also include programs outside the parish, like Engaged Encounter, it is important that you allow yourself enough time (four to six months) to benefit the most from these sessions. Your lives are very busy at this point, yet it is important that you devote time to talking about and thinking about being emotionally and spiritually ready to make the serious commitment that you want your marriage to be. Marriage preparation meetings consist of one engaged couple and a priest and are completely confidential. They are based on mutual respect and trust.
Marriage Preparation Sessions
These may vary in number and length. Throughout the four sessions we will continue to discuss how we can make the liturgy of the Sacrament of Marriage meaningful to you and expressive of your faith. We will talk about the rite of marriage, the movement that takes place during the ceremony.
Parish Policy regarding Church Use for Catholic Ceremonies
Holy Family Church facilities are available to practicing Catholics who are presently registered members of Holy Family Parish or who are sons or daughters of presently registered members of the parish; also, to practicing Catholics who are not registered members of Holy Family, but who live within the boundaries of the parish. This happens only after they have actually registered and will have been registered for a period of six months or more before the proposed wedding and have given evidence of their intentions to participate in the life of the parish. Non–Holy Family members may get married here with written permission of their pastor. They may do the marriage preparation in their home parish or at Holy Family Parish.
The Marriage Rite of the Roman Catholic Church
Holy Family Parish offers you the beauty and simplicity of a marriage ceremony conducted according to the Roman Catholic Rite of the sacrament of Matrimony. The rite is part of a centuries old tradition of recognizing God’s presence to us in the sacraments. The rite allows us to focus on the sacramental, grace–giving nature of the sacrament.
Church Environment and Etiquette
Holy Family Church is a sacred space to the members of the parish who worship here. You are not renting a building. You are using our parish worship space. It is the common gathering point of the faith community who come together here as a family to pray and to worship. An atmosphere of reverence and respect must be maintained in the church at all times. Loud talking, smoking, eating, drinking and boisterous behavior are unacceptable in the church at any time. Your decision to be married in Holy Family Church means that you are on “holy ground” treating it as such.
The Wedding Liturgy
At a Catholic wedding, the bride and the groom are the ministers of the Sacrament. It is in their consent to freely give themselves to one another and in their vows to make their love a life–long commitment that God is present to them in each other. The priest is present only as the Church’s official witness who presides at the ceremony and blesses the couple in their new life together.
The Ceremony
The priest will assist you in selecting Scripture readings and prayers that will make your wedding ceremony a beautiful and personal celebration. You are required to prepare a worship aid or booklet that will enable guests to follow the ceremony. Such a worship aid would introduce the wedding party, participants in the liturgy (priest, lectors, gift bearers, servers, Eucharistic ministers, musicians, etc.) and would include the main parts of the wedding rite. The booklet should be helpful and will make the guests, especially non–Catholics, feel more welcome. It will also enable all guests to participate more fully in the celebration. At least a week before the wedding a copy of the program should be submitted to the parish. Do not do final printing until it is approved.