Matrimony

Father, to reveal the plan of your love, you made the union of husband and wife an image of the covenant between you and your people.  In the fulfillment of this sacrament, the marriage of Christian man and woman is a sign of the marriage between Christ and the Church. (Marriage Rite prayer)

Marriage between a baptized man and a baptized woman is a sacrament, that is, the couple’s relationship expresses in a unique way the unbreakable bond of love between Christ and his people.

Like the other six sacraments of the Church, marriage is a sign or symbol which reveals the Lord Jesus and through which his divine life and love are communicated. 

All seven sacraments were instituted by Christ and were entrusted to the Church to be celebrated in faith within and for the community of believers. The rituals and prayers by which a sacrament is celebrated serve to express visibly what God is doing invisibly.

In a sacramental marriage, God’s love becomes present to the spouses in their total union and flows through them to their family and community. By their permanent, faithful and exclusive giving to each other, symbolized in sexual intercourse, the couple reveals something of God’s unconditional love. The sacrament of Christian marriage involves their entire life as they journey together through the ups and downs of marriage and become more able to give to and receive from each other. Their life becomes sacramental to the extent that the couple cooperates with God’s action in their life and sees themselves as living “in Christ” and Christ living and acting in their relationship, attitudes and actions.

Current parishioners and their children are welcome to be married in our parish church. Please note the Archdiocese of St. Louis requires a six-month period of preparation prior to the wedding. If you are awaiting the decision of the Marriage Tribunal regarding a possible annulment, please wait until you have received your final papers to schedule a marriage ceremony.

Members of the parish desiring to be married elsewhere are encouraged to obtain preliminary information about the location and priest who will preside. One of the parish priests can assist in preparing the couple and completing the paperwork.

Parishioners desiring information about an annulment are urged to contact one of our parish priests.