Marriage Requirements

We offer our congratulations to all anticipating marriage, particularly to the parishioners of the Cathedral. People can have a wedding and a nice party for the couple, but it takes work by both parties to have a marriage. Marriage is a very important Sacrament in the Church and as such there are requirements necessary for having a marriage in the Church. It is important to remember that marriage is a covenant made by two people with God, a very sacred time in the life of the parties. Obviously this is not something to be taken lightly. With that, the Archdiocese requires six (6) months of preparation for couple anticipating marriage and the parties are to be married in a "sacred place".

The couple exchanges vows that include statements that the vows are freely given, they will remain married for the rest of their life, they will be faithful to their spouse, they welcome children, and they are marrying not only for the good for themselves individually but also for the good of the couple and their spouse.

To have a marriage recognized by the Church, it is important the couple show they are free to marry, that is, there are no previous bonds or vows that stand in the way of the marriage vows that are to be exchanged. To assist in this, marriage preparation at the Cathedral can be seen in three sections, which will be described below. The first is establishing freedom to marry by completing necessary paper work. The second is counseling with a priest/deacon or trained associate. The third is attendance at one of the workshops approved by the Archdiocese.

The celebrant is responsible for ensuring the proper paper work is completed before the marriage is witnessed. For weddings that will take place in a city where the parties cannot meet with the priest/deacon, the preparation described below is done with one of the priests/deacons of the parish of the Catholic party(ies).

Documentation Needed

At the first meeting, the priest/deacon doing the preparation will complete a "Bride and Groom" questionnaire. Each of you will meet privately with him for this. You will eventually need the following documents (you will be given detailed information on the documents at the time of your first meeting):

If Catholic, a recent copy of your baptismal certificate, that is, it must have been issued not more than six months previously. This can be obtained easily by contacting the parish in which you were baptized and requesting the copy. In the request, it is important to indicate that the certificate is for the purpose of marriage since there are requirements of sacramental notation that need to be included in the certificate. If not Catholic, but baptized in another religion, the matter of baptism will be handled in the affidavits (see next item). If a Baptismal Certificate is available, please let the priest/deacon have it.

Each Party, whether Catholic or not, must have an affidavit of freedom to marry from two people. These are usually completed by your parents, but can be done by anyone who has known you since your early teenage years. A priest, deacon, or a notary public may witness their signature, not necessarily by the celebrant or person doing the preparation.