Getting Started

Contacting a priest is the first step in planning a wedding at Holy Family Catholic Community.

1. Contact a priest as soon as you become engaged or even if you are beginning to plan for an engagement.
2. Allow at least six months for marriage preparation before your desired wedding date.
3. Do not confirm your wedding date until you have met with a priest and the parish has approved the date.

Contact:

Fr. Craig Richter
frrichter@hffdl.org
(920) 921-0580 ext. 605

Please include both bride and groom’s names, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Marriage Preparation Requirements

Couples preparing for marriage at Holy Family should be aware of the following:

• At least one person must be a registered and participating member of a Catholic parish. Preference in wedding dates is given to Holy Family parishioners.

• The Catholic partner(s) must give evidence of some faith and trust in God. This includes regular participation in the Sunday Mass.
• The couple must complete required marriage preparation forms indicating one’s sincere intentions.

Marriage preparations include the following elements:

• Recent copies of baptismal and confirmation certificates are required.

• Couples complete the FOCCUS premarital inventory.
• Couples participate in the Archdiocesan Marriage Preparation Class.
• Couples watch the required 6 online FORMED videos.
• Couples meet with their priest several times, including wedding liturgy planning.
• Couples meet with Director of Worship to plan and choose the sacred music for their wedding liturgy.

Marriage as a Sacrament

In the book of Genesis (2:18-24) there is a poetic rendition of the creation of man and woman. God, the eternal Potter, forms a man from the clay of the earth. He wants the man to be happy, but happiness is not provided by any of the beasts he is allowed to name. So God put the man to sleep and from his side, forms a woman, flesh and bone, as he is. Coming from the side of the man, this woman is his equal. The two become one flesh and share forever a unity that is begun by the breath of God. What God has joined together, people must not divide.

When a man and a woman come together in marriage they do so to fulfill the plan that God has set before them. Marriage in contemporary times has two levels. The first level is that which is recognized as legal in society. The second is that which is recognized by the Church and it is called sacramental. In the former, the marriage vows spoken in ceremony are all that is needed. Much more is demanded from a sacramental marriage.

For a marriage to be sacramental a number of aspects must come together. Each party must enter the marriage freely. No event, person or circumstance must be pressuring them to marry at this time. To marry only because a child in on the way is not to marry freely. To marry because you’re getting older and chances for a match are fading is not to marry freely. Persons trapped by some addictions are unable to be free enough to covenant a sacramental marriage.

All of those spoken and written promises come together in the midst of the Church, the People of God, and the presence of Jesus Christ Himself. The Christian community is the Body of Christ. For Catholics, a marriage covenanted outside the Catholic community is not sacramental. It is a marriage legal in the eyes of the state.