Your Wedding is but a Moment…

                                                              Your Marriage is Forever!

Excitement is in the air! The St. Rita parish family wishes you CONGRATULATIONS and extends PRAYERS of God’s many BLESSINGS on your engagement and future marriage!  

As your heads begin to swirl with all the planning and decision-making for your wedding day, you are invited to calm the swirl and let the Holy Spirit guide you while planning your wedding celebration within the Catholic Church. Your wedding ceremony is the heart and highlight of your Wedding Day! Ceremony planning is a time to focus on God, pray for and with each other, reflect on the Sacrament of Matrimony, and make sacramental decisions together. Your faith-filled journey toward “becoming one flesh” begins now!

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is a visible of God's love for the church; a public sign where one gives oneself totally to this other person. “God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate His love in their relationship with each other. Man and woman are created for each other…woman and man are created equal in human dignity. In marriage, both are united in an unbreakable bond.” (U. S. Catholic Catechism for Adults; Ch. 21, p.279)

Marriage is a Covenant

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of covenants between God and His people (Abraham and Moses). This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime to create that Forever Marriage. The Sacrament of Marriage signifies the union of Christ and the Church. That God-given grace of the sacrament perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their unbreakable union, and sanctifies them on the way to their eternal life. (CCC 1661) Therefore, marriage is based on the consent of each spouse-to-be that they, on their own free will, give themselves to each other in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC1662) The church teaches that a break in this covenant goes against the natural law of God.

Marriage Reflects the Holy Trinity

We believe God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end, the Holy Trinity. God created human beings in His image and likeness for the purpose of communion with another human to create a third human.

"The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit." (CCC; 2205) Christian marriage, at its finest, is a reflection of the Holy Trinity where God's self-giving love is expressed between the love of husband and wife.

Marriage is Important

The importance of receiving this holy Sacrament of Matrimony is absolutely beautiful…

           This is the event for which God has been eagerly waiting! 

           This is the event where you make a covenantal union  with God and each other.

           This is the event which a man and a woman become husband and wife in the presence

                       of God, the priest, witnesses, their loved ones and the Catholic community.

           This is the event that marks your marriage as the beginning of your growing family to

                       become a God-focused Domestic Church.

Contact St. Rita in the Desert

For those contemplating marriage in the Catholic Church, please contract St. Rita in the Desert at least four months prior to your "hoped-for" wedding date. Please do not arrange your reception venue before meeting with the pastor. As your Catholic Wedding Ceremony is the focus of your wedding day, arrangements to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony must begin before you make arrangements for your wedding reception.

What’s the difference between a wedding and a marriage? Why do you want to be married in a Catholic Church? What do you mean, Catholic Teachings for marriage? Did God have a plan for marriage? How do you make a life-long marriage? Do I really have to prepare for marriage? The answer to the last question is absolutely you do! The other question, and many more, will be answered during Catholic Marriage Classes, which are mandatory. The classes will engage couples into discussions that are very much relevant for a life-time marriage. After all, we all really do want a marriage that will last forever!

God’s plan for humanity involves His will for young married couples to be open to new life. Married couples are asked by God to teach their children about God and Catholic Teachings, to be passed down generations to come. Natural Family Planning is a safe and effective way to plan for the growth of your blessed family. By attending mandatory NFP classes, you will learn the meaning of NFP, how NFP strengthens your marriage, and why the effectiveness rate is so successful. 

“So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together,

no human being must separate.”  Matthew 19:6