Pre-Nuptial Questionnaire: With a priest or deacon, both bride and groom must fill out, individually, under oath, a Pre-Nuptial questionnaire. This form is used to gather your names, addresses, birthdates, religions, and sacramental backgrounds.
All couples will take the FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study) inventory. It is a means of helping the priest or deacon, as well as the couple, determine the strengths and weaknesses regarding the · Sacrament of Matrimony for which couples are preparing.
A marriage preparation course is mandatory for ALL COUPLES whether one or both parties are Catholic. The couple is to attend a Catholic Engaged Encounter. Pre-Cana will also meet this requirement if the Catholic Engaged Encounter is not possible.
Catholics must present a baptismal certificate dated within six months of the wedding arrangements. The priest or deacon preparing your marriage can help you obtain this.
If there has been a former marriage, both the Marriage Certificate and the Death Certificate or Declaration of Nullity, as appropriate, must be produced.
In a marriage of mixed faith, the Catholic party alone is to make a written and verbal promise to attend to the Catholic upbringing of all children born of the marriage. The non-Catholic is made aware of the Catholic’s responsibility in this matter.
If a priest other than the local parish priest is to perform the ceremony, he must have the pastor’s permission and usually attends to the prenuptial paperwork.
All Catholic parties should attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) before marriage in order to prepare spiritually.
The Couple is responsible for obtaining a civil marriage license from the St. Mary’s County Government.
The Couple should contact the parish Director of Music within the same week of meeting with the priest for the first time in order to schedule the music for their ceremony.
The Couple must meet with the priest or deacon no later than one month before the wedding to finalize the details of the marriage ceremony.