Marriage
Matrimony is one of the two sacraments of vocation. Married couples promise to serve each other with love and to serve the whole Church. They enter into a lifelong covenant of love. This is their vocation. They serve the Church by their love and they share in God's creation in a special way when they give birth to children. In Matrimony, God gives a man and woman the special grace and blessings to build a Christian family together. The Church celebrates the call to love in a special way in the sacrament of Matrimony or marriage.
The Sacrament of Matrimony, whereby a man and woman are joined together in a life-long union of procreative love, is a calling from God. The Creator established this purpose from the very beginning by the very manner in which He made men and women. Jesus taught that the nature of marriage itself reflects the indivisible unity of the love of God. In this way Jesus raised the natural bond of marriage to a supernatural sacrament of life and love.
The movement toward this life choice, the union of marriage, is, therefore, a moment requiring careful deliberation and spiritual preparation. The parish staff should be contacted at least six months prior to the desired date of marriage so appropriate arrangements and preparation can be made, 740-965-1358. Individual sessions with the parish clergy and attendance at a Pre-Cana session are required for marriage. If one or both partners have been married before, the couple can work with someone on the staff to receive an annulment.
Marriage Mentoring
Marriage mentoring is a part of the marriage preparation program at St. John Neumann. In this program, married couples in the parish meet with engaged couples, one on one, for one to two hours over the course of seven or eight sessions. Mentor couples discuss various topics in marriage, such as finances, problem solving and lifestyle expectations. Mentoring has been shown to lower the chance of divorce. It helps the engaged couples learn that marriage should not just be about personal happiness, also about growing in holiness. Most mentor couples find in the process of working with engaged couples, their own marriage becomes strengthened. Learn more about the engaged process by clicking here. If you would like to be a marriage mentor couple and participate in the next training contact: Amy Merry amerry13@yahoo.com or at 740-965-6912. Practicing NFP couples are preferred.
Marriages grow when couples support couples and grow in faith together: