MATRIMONY
Matrimony and Holy Orders are sacraments at the service of communion in the Church. They are received so that the recipients may dedicate themselves towards the salvation of others. They do contribute to the salvation of the recipients, but only because the recipients work for the salvation of others.
Christ instituted the sacrament of Matrimony when attended the wedding feast of Cana and through this preaching when he taught that the union of a man and woman in marriage should be permanent until death.
Unlike any of the other sacraments, marriage was established by God in his creation of man.
Christ raised the institution of marriage to a sacrament, the sacrament of Matrimony.
The sacrament of Matrimony establishes an indissoluble bond between a man and a woman.
In the bond of Matrimony, husbands and wives give themselves totally and selflessly to one another for life: They are to love one another as Christ loves the Church.
The bond of Matrimony is permanent, faithful and open to new human life.
The permanence of marriage, mirroring the permanence of Christ's love, excludes divorce in the sense that divorce ends a marriage.
Those validly married couples who are living apart (and who are even divorced legally) remain married.
There can be no second marriage for a validly married person while the first spouse is living.
The fidelity of marriage, imitating the faithful love of God for his people, excludes polygamy and adultery.
The openness to life, which also imitates God's eternally fruitful love, excludes any for of contraception. (Natural Family Planning is not contraception.)
Any couple, one man and one woman, who are baptized and are free to marry may receive this sacrament. This means that the man and woman wishing to marry each other:
must meet the age requirements and any other requirements established by civil and church law;
can not have already entered into a valid marriage to someone else (annulments declare that marriages were invalid);
must not be under any force or constraint to consent to marriage.
If either the groom or the bride is not baptized (or both are not), they may marry. However, they cannon celebrate the sacrament of Matrimony. Their marriage is called a natural union and is blessed by the Church.
A Catholic and baptized non-Catholic may marry and validly contract the sacrament of Matrimony. This is called a mixed marriage.
Permission is required for such a marriage and can only be obtained if the Catholic party promises to continue practicing his or her faith and to raise any children born of the union as Catholics.
A man and a woman wishing to marry should have received the sacrament of Confirmation.
A man and a woman wishing to marry should prepare themselves to receive the sacrament:
through prayer;
be leading a Christian life (which, among other things, excludes living together before marriage);
and through the celebration of the sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
A man and a woman wishing to marry need to present themselves to a bishop, priest or deacon who will help them prepare for the celebration of the sacrament.
In addition to the immediate preparation for marriage in the months before the wedding, families should prepare children for possible vocations to the married life.
There also should be the proximate preparation for marriage given in the adolescent years through example and education by relatives, teachers, pastors, and friends.
The sacrament of Matrimony is contracted through the consent of the man and the woman who totally and freely give themselves to each other.
The man and the woman entering marriage confer the sacrament on one another.
A bishop, priest or deacon receives the consent of the bride and groom, and acts as the representative of the Church.
With permission of the bishop, a non-Catholic minister may receive the vows of the couple.
The sacrament of Matrimony is usually celebrated within Mass.
If a non-Catholic and a Catholic are celebrating Matrimony, usually the sacrament is not celebrated within Mass.
Where civil laws require witnesses to a marriage, they are required by the Church.
The sacrament of Matrimony signifies and makes present the union of Christ and the Church.
Information on this page was taken from Outlines of the Catholic Faith with permission from The Leaflet Missal Company. Click here for more information about Leaflet Missal Company publications.