Catholic Weddings

Meeting with the Priest

FI & I are finally meeting with our priest after our Saturday mass to discuss dates for the wedding.  I'm pretty excited. 
Are there questions we should be prepared to answer? (Beside date or month preferences)
Are there any questions we should be asking the priest at this point too?

I don't know what to expect from the meeting I thought may be I would ask you guys to help prepare us a bit more.  I fully expect for 5 people to reply and get 5 completely different answers. Every church and priest is different.

Thanks in advance for the help.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Anniversary

Re: Meeting with the Priest

  • You're exactly right in that every priest is different. If you don't know the priest well, I would anticipate some get to know you questions. You may be asked to complete a formal premarital inventory at that meeting or at another one. He may ask questions about your relationship.

    I would, at this point, ask for a detailed marriage prep plan. What will you need to do? When do you need to do it? The requirements vary drastically from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, so find out for sure what you need to do.

    I would also find out if there is a wedding coordinator (often a volunteer) or someone who can be a point person to ask questions. This may also be someone who can answer questions about music and attire and vendors and stuff. It can be frustrating for brides sometimes because their wedding is super important and present to them, but it is still a loooooong ways off to the priest. Having someone to ask nitty gritty questions of is helpful, and if the priest says to just ask him, that's that.

    I always always always encourage everyone to take a full course in NFP, even if it isn't required. You may want to ask about resources for that.

    I always encourage people to go to the meeting with an open heart and mind. Listen to what the priest has to say, even if it is difficult. Ask questions that arise from a place of honesty, not defensiveness, and you should be fine!
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  • Our first meeting with the priest was more just a "get to know you" meeting, since he was new to the parish and we hadn't met before.  He asked us some general questions, went through the form indicating whether we'd been baptized, confirmed, married before, etc.  We also went through the different requirements for marriage at that church (NFP class, marriage prep course, FOCCUS, etc.).  We didn't get into anything too personal until we'd had a few more meetings and were more comfortable with eachother, and discussed the FOCCUS results and other marriage-related topics.
  • Be prepared that you may get split up to answer a few questions.  When we met with our priest, we first had a chat about dates and marriage requirements, and then FI left the room so the priest could ask me a few questions.  These were incredibly basic, ie. "Are you willingly and freely entering this marriage?" and "Are you concerned about any abusive behavior from your partner?"  When I finished answering, I left the room, and the priest asked FI the same questions.  Then we reconvened, talked briefly about beginning the marriage prep process, and that was that!
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  • Thanks for the responses and feedback.  This definitely helps a ton! 

    Anniversary

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