Marriage

Matrimony

We need at least 6 months’ notice of your intention to marry in our parish. Before you book anything else, please be sure to check the Church is available to you.

The parish secretary will ask you to complete a booking form once they confirm your date is free.

There is a charge in our parish to cover our costs for your wedding day. The secretary will advise you of this when you book.

You will also need to look at participating in a marriage preparation course which is a lovely way for you as a couple to look at your own relationship. The Civil Authorities also have state requirements which must be fulfilled.

In St Oliver Plunkett parish, the secretary will invite you to the first meeting with the parish priest, approximately 6 months before your wedding date, then the priest will set the other dates each time you meet.

At these meetings, the priest will begin the process of filling out Pre-Nuptial Enquiry Forms and advise you about the various documents that you need to collect. You will need to get a Certificate of Baptism from the parish in which you were baptised and a Certificate of Confirmation from the parish in which you were confirmed. These documents should be issued no less than six months prior to the date of marriage.

If you have lived somewhere else, other than your present parish, since you were sixteen, then you will need to get a Letter of Freedom from each parish in which you lived for more than six months to state that you did not get married while you lived there. Any priest from the parish (or parishes) where you lived will supply you with this document.

The bishop’s permission is required for a Church marriage involving someone under 18. Christian marriage requires the capability for a mature commitment and therefore such permissions are only granted in exceptional circumstances.

Freedom to marry

The rules governing freedom to marry in the Catholic church can be complicated. The best advice when one party has been married previously (either in a civil or religious ceremony) is not to decide until the diocesan office has been consulted.

Mixed Marriages: Special permissions are required for full church recognition of marriages between a Roman Catholic and a baptised non-RC or someone unbaptised. Applications are handled by the diocesan office once the priest of the catholic party has forwarded the standard paperwork.

Marriage course

It is recommended that all couples who are getting married should attend a Pre-Marriage Course with Accord. It is better to attend the course well before the date of the Marriage.

The ceremony

The marriage ceremony should normally take place in a church in the bride’s parish. If the couple have a good reason for getting married elsewhere, the bride should inform a priest in the parish where she is now living to give her the necessary Letter of Permission to get married outside the parish. Obviously, in this case, the couple will need to decide where they intend to get married.

Normally a priest from the bride’s parish officiates at the marriage ceremony if the ceremony takes place in the bride’s parish. If you wish to have some other priest (e.g., a relative or friend) officiate, inform the priest in the parish where the ceremony is to take place and he will give the necessary authorisation. In Civil Law, it is now a legal requirement for the Officiant (the priest who officiates at the marriage) to be on the ‘List of Officiants’ submitted by each local Bishop to the Registrar-General.

The priest who is to officiate at your wedding will help you with the task of creating your marriage ceremony. There are a variety of prayers, blessings, readings, etc. Read through these together and choose the ones you prefer. Choose the person(s) who will read at Mass, person(s) to read the Prayers of the Faithful and the people to bring up the gifts at the Offertory. Rehearse the ceremony in church with the priest before the wedding day.

To celebrate the sacrament of Marriage does not require the celebration of Eucharist (Mass). While it has been generally the custom, it may not always be appropriate for example in a “mixed” marriage or when a couple are not regularly practising. Some couples today find the celebration of Marriage without the Eucharist, to be more appropriate for them.

If you have any further queries regarding your Church Ceremony, please contact the Parish Office on 028 9061 8180.