Creating Cherished Memories: A Sacred Union - July 7, 2023

Dear Friends,

Last weekend as I was waiting for Mass to begin, a longtime parishioner shared that she was about to celebrate 35 years of marriage. Providentially, the sponsor couple that prepared her and her husband for marriage walked in the church moments later. That was not their usual Mass, but it was a great occasion to reminisce about the blessings of their 50+ years of marriage and past work as sponsor couples.

I am happy to report that St Austin has already hosted eight weddings during the first half of 2023. We have another eight weddings scheduled for the second half of 2023, and 10 couples from our church are marrying elsewhere this year. Looking ahead, we have 22 couples preparing for marriage over the next 12 months, either at St Austin or elsewhere.

Lourdes Alonso joined our parish staff part-time earlier this year as our Pastoral Associate for Marriage Preparation. Coordinating the spiritual preparation of so many couples had been too much for the staff before Lourdes joined us, so most engaged couples went to diocesan retreats or took online classes. Lourdes has been working to expand our sponsor couple program with that goal that every couple coming to St Austin’s can do their marriage preparation here with members of our community instead of going to an outside program. We are already starting to see more engaged couples new to Austin at Sunday Mass enjoying the chance to catch-up with our longtime parishioners and become more integrated into our parish family.

We are actively looking for more sponsor couples to journey with our engaged couples, especially since we have a long waitlist. We don’t expect our sponsor couples to have perfect marriages or be without struggles. In fact, our sponsor couples often report that the resources they are given help their own marriages as much as they help the engaged couples. Nor do we expect both sponsor couples to be Catholic, and we often pair Catholic / non-Catholic sponsor couples with mixed fiancés who are preparing to live the same reality. If you feel called and have been married at least five years, please reach out to me or Lourdes at [email protected].

St Austin’s reputation as a welcoming community offering meaningful and worthwhile marriage preparation has been growing in recent months. This promises to be a blessing for both the engaged couples and the long-term vibrancy of our parish. I am so grateful for Lourdes and our team of sponsor couples who share their time to strengthen our future newly-weds.
Please pray for them and for the ongoing growth of this important ministry.

God bless,