Getting married at the Catholic Parish of Warringah
Congratulations on your engagement! Now begins the wonderful, romantic, exciting and at times nerve-racking time of preparing not just for your wedding day, but for your married life.
Choosing A Church
The priests of Warringah Catholic Parish are available to do weddings in St John’s & St Kevin’s churches. Marriage is one of the sacraments of the Church, and as such, the normal place for a wedding is in a parish church.
We encourage you to choose either your local parish church or the church of the parish where you will be moving to when married. The place where you are married will hold important memories for you in the future, and every time you go to that church in the future, you will be reminded of your wedding. For this reason, school chapels, although often attractive, are not the appropriate place for a wedding. These hold your memories of the past, but you will not be able to worship regularly there, nor have your children baptized there.
Preparation
You will need to first meet with one of the priests, to book times and dates, and to make some preliminary arrangements. These arrangements cannot be made over the phone or by your parents.
Your priest will give you details of a marriage preparation course for the two of you to attend. This course will be either over 6 weeknights, or a weekend, and is run by married couples who will share with you the Church’s dream for your marriage and challenge you to look deeply at your relationship, as you move towards a married commitment.
When you complete this course, you will then see the priest two or three times. During these meetings, there will be time to discuss your reflections about your preparation course, sign some of the necessary paperwork, and prepare the wedding ceremony. Making these appointments will be your responsibility. All preparations need to be commenced at least six months prior to the wedding.
It may or may not be necessary to have a practice for the wedding. Discuss this with your priest.
Problems Getting Married
The Catholic Church recognises a valid marriage as a permanent, life-long commitment. If you have been married and divorced, it is necessary to go through a process called annulment. This process assesses whether or not your previous marriage was valid. If the annulment is granted you are free to marry in the Church. Speak to your priest if you have been married previously.
You can marry any person, Catholic, non-Catholic or non-Christian in the Catholic Church. However, you will be required to promise that you will continue to practice the faith and bring up your children as Catholics.
Paperwork
When you meet with the priest after your preparation course, you will need to have some personal papers. You will each need either a birth certificate or a passport as civil identification. A Catholic getting married will need to obtain a recent baptism certificate (contact the parish where you were baptized, and ask them to send you one). A person baptized in another Christian church is asked to bring a copy of their original baptism certificate.
Music, Flowers, Printing
These are all your responsibility; however, we can provide contacts for musicians and the people who prepare the church environment. We will discuss your choice of readings, prayers and music for the ceremony with you. A wedding booklet is not required for the ceremony, but if you wish to have one we will help you with the preparation. You will need to organize typing and printing.
The Next Step
If you would like to be married at Warringah Parish ring the priest of your choice on 9982 6536 and make an appointment to meet.
We look forward to meeting you!