For more information or general questions, please contact the parish office.
Due to the small size of our staff & volunteer core as well as to emphasize the parochial nature of celebrating the sacrament of matrimony, marriages at Saint Mark parish are generally only available to parishioners.
Exceptions are rare and must be approved by both Father Ross and the pastor of your home parish.
The preparation and celebration of Marriage, which above all concern the future spouses themselves and their families, belong, as regards pastoral and liturgical care, to the Bishop, to the pastor and his associates, and, at least to some degree, to the entire ecclesia community.
Pastors of souls must take care that in their own community this assistance is provided especially:
- by preaching, by catechesis adapted to children, young people, and adults, and through means of social communication, so that the Christian faithful are instructed about the meaning of Christian Marriage and about the role of Christian spouses and parents;
- by personal preparation for entering Marriage, so that those to be married are disposed to the holiness and duties of their new state;
- by a fruitful liturgical celebration of Marriage, so that it becomes clear that the spouses signify and participate in the mystery of the unity and fruitful love between Christ and the Church;
- by help offered to those who are married, so that, faithfully preserving and protecting the conjugal covenant, they daily come to lead a holier and fuller family life.
Sufficient time is required for a suitable preparation for Marriage. Engaged couples should be made aware of this necessity in advance.
#12, 14, and 15, General Instruction, Order of Celebrating Matrimony
As you plan for your wedding day, there may seem to be an overwhelming number of details to arrange. We look forward to assisting in arranging the liturgical celebration. Though meeting personally with both the pastor & wedding coordinator will be necessary, the marriage preparation resources provided by United States Catholic Conference of Bishops at their website For Your Marriage may provide some useful information in the interim and throughout the process.
For particular policies within the Archdiocese of Seattle, please review the ‘Matrimony’ section of Many Gifts, One Spirit (the official policies document of the archdiocese). Saint Mark parish also has local practices and policies, as outlined in the wedding packet (below).