“Take this ring, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Marriage Requirements
Diocese requirements include a formal engagement preparation period of at least six months before the date of the wedding and attendance in a marriage preparation program. St. Raphael requires either the bride, groom or parents of either to be registered as parishioners for at least three months before contacting us to set a date. There are a number of additional requirements. To begin the marriage process, either the bride or groom should contact the parish receptionist.
Contact
Parish Receptionist at (630) 355-4545
“The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.”
Code of Canon Law, can. 1055 §1; cf. Gaudium et Spes 48 §1.
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with “the wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rev 19:7, 9). Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church. God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate his love in their relations with each other. Man and woman were created for each other. “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him. . . . The two of them become one body” (Gn 2:18; 24). Woman and man are equal in human dignity, and in marriage both are united in an unbreakable bond. (US Catholic Catechism for Adults, pg 279)