3.1  Our Catholic Heritage

hrough its liturgical rites, the Church celebrates what it believes. It is our participation in the dying and rising of Jesus. As a community, we do this in the liturgy by proclaiming the Gospel and by celebrating the sacrificial presence of Christ in the Eucharist (see Chapter 1 of John Paul Ii, On the Eucharist.). We do this in our lives by works of justice, mercy, and reconciliation, as well as taking on a commitment to be conformed to Christ.

Therefore, the way that we celebrate weddings has a great deal to do with what we believe about marriage. When we gather together for a wedding, we gather with a couple who wants to make their commitment public before God and the Church, and we rejoice in their promise as they become ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony to one another and to the Church.

At the same time, the Church believes that the love of God is made visible in a special way through this particular couple who exchanges marital consent. Therefore, the wedding celebration reflects both the universal and the particular. Moreover, these two must be held in balance so that the ceremony is neither an anonymous ritual nor so individualized that the meaning of the day for the Church is lost. Weddings are both the celebrations of the Church and celebrations of the couple. It is necessary to maintain a healthy tension between the two.

The Church’s ministers should know the principles of Catholic liturgy. However, couples who ask the Church to celebrate their marriage may not have that same knowledge. Even if they are regular churchgoers, the actual planning of a liturgy is more complicated than just attending a liturgy. For those who are not regular churchgoers, even the most basic liturgical principles might need to be explained. In either case, those who are working with couples preparing for marriage should have an understanding attitude toward the couple’s knowledge of liturgy. This can be a time for education and formation.