About the Sacrament of Matrimony
Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."
About the Sacrament of Matrimony at the Church of St. Mary
Guidelines from the Diocese of Tulsa are used for the preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage. We request that each couple have at least four months preparation for marriage and that both parties are free to marry in the Roman Catholic Church. Please contact one of our priests to make initial preparations for your marriage. The marriage date is not set by telephone conversation. One must be a registered member of the Church of Saint Mary.
For addtional information you may download the Church of Saint Mary Wedding Guideline booklet, which also contains the required forms to reserve the Church or Chapel after you have set the wedding date with one of our priests. Walter Stout, the Church of Saint Mary Organist and Director of Music, has Music Information for Weddings available relating to music options, frequantly asked questions, and a Wedding Music worksheet available for download as well.
More about the Sacrament of Matrimony
Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
"The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage." The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life."
God who created man out of love also calls him to love—the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"
