Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with "the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7, 9). Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church.
By their marriage, the couple witnesses Christ's spousal love for the Church. One of the Nuptial Blessings in the liturgical celebration of marriage refers to this in saying, "Father, you have made the union of man and wife so holy a mystery that it symbolizes the marriage of Christ and his Church."
The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenant, which is more than a contract. Covenant always expresses a relationship between persons. The marriage covenant refers to the relationship between the husband and wife, a permanent union of persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God. The celebration of marriage is also a liturgical act, appropriately held in a public liturgy at church. Catholics are urged to celebrate their marriage within the Eucharistic Liturgy.
We're pleased that you are interested in celebrating your wedding with us at St. Austin Catholic Parish!
Until you've completed and turned in a Wedding Request Form and met with one of the clergy at the parish, you can't visit with our Wedding Coordinator.
The St. Austin sponsor couple program uses materials called In Faithful Love for a program consisting of a series of marriage preparation sessions held in the home of a married couple who are trained in marriage ministry. It provides a personal approach, addressing the unique needs and issues of the engaged couple in a couple-to-couple fashion. Sessions are scheduled at the convenience of both couples.
At the first session, the engaged couple will meet the sponsor couple and take the FOCCUS, a series of questions about life style expectations, interests, personality matches, dual careers, problem, solving religion and values, family of origin, interfaith marriage, parenting, finances, sexuality, and the marriage covenant. This session usually takes and hour so. The FOCCUS inventory is scored by personnel at St. Austin and returned to the sponsor couple.
During the next four sessions, which are held usually a week or two apart, the engaged couple works with their sponsor couple on FOCCUS materials with the sessions tailored to issues from the engaged couple’s answers on the FOCCUS inventory. This is a communication program. Much of the time the engaged couple are left alone to discuss things. Each of these sessions last about two hours.
As an engaged couple completing marriage preparation and liturgy planning for a wedding at St. Austin, the parish wedding coordinator will contact you regarding scheduling your FOCCUS testing and preparation schedule, including meeting with a priest, putting you in contact with our liturgy team, etc. Please turn in your wedding request form to begin this process.
St. Austin Catholic Parish conforms to the General Instructions of the Roman Missal and all weddings celebrated in the parish will include the following parts that are sung:
(1) Gathering Hymn or Song (optional), (2) Responsorial Psalm, and (3) Gospel Acclamation
If a Mass is to be celebrated, then the following will also be sung by the assembly:
(1) Eucharistic Acclamations, (2) Agnus Dei and (3) A Communion Hymn or Song (4) Gloria (Glory to God) after the opening remarks by the presider may be sung especially if a majority of those in attendance are active in their local parish.
The organist of the parish and a parish cantor will always provide the musical leadership for these portions of the Mass. Additional instrumental music, choral, and solo vocal works may also be included. All music for the Rites must conform to the Church’s teachings and instructions. The music must be sacred and should be pastorally, liturgically and musically appropriate for the Liturgy and be approved by the Director of Music & Liturgy.
Music selections can be found HERE. The form should filled out and returned to the parish Wedding Coordinator, Pat Lucksinger.
Catholics who were married in a civil ceremony or in a religious ceremony outside the Catholic Church who wish to have their marriage celebrated within the rites of the Church should contact Pat Lucksinger, our Wedding Coordinator, for more information.
If you wish to have your wedding livestreamed consider this language for your message to family and friends.
In gratitude, we share our joy as we begin life together. Thank you for wanting to support us in this celebration and throughout our marriage, but your safety is most important. In this time of pandemic when travel and gathering pose serious risks, we invite you to be with us by tuning in to the livestream of our wedding on the website in the Mass Broadcast window. Here is a link to that portal: https://staustin.org/mass.
If you choose to post the video of your wedding, it will be available on the Matrimony page for 90 days. We offer this suggested language to share that posting.
Our wedding will be available for you to revisit at the St. Austin website for 90 days at https://staustin.org/matrimony. The video will be posted under our names in Our Wedding at St. Austin.
If you wish to share a private link (not publicly available on our website or YouTube), we can email you that link after the celebration.
After the wedding concludes, you are welcome to download the recorded video of the ceremony by going to this page.