Matrimony

See below for Marriage Preparation Programs

Archdiocese of Louisville

The Family Ministries Office, offers marriage preparation programs in our Archdiocese like; Foundation of Marriage, Catholic Engage Encounter and Prepare-Enrich Marriage Inventory System (for couples who are marrying for the first time later in life, or who are seeking marriage after being widowed or receiving a decree of nullity). For more information and their calendar of classes go to

For more information about their program and/or to register please go to http://www.catholicmarriageprepclass.com/. Once registered, finish the course and print out certificate of completion to submit to St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Online marriage preparation programs are the ideal solution for couples separated by distance, having scheduling difficulties, or with limited traditional Pre-Cana options. This program leverage the power and convenience of the internet to connect couples with quality, comprehensive courses for their marriage preparation. To contact them visit their website at THEMARRIAGEGROUP.COM; call them at

(810) 957-1550; or email them at hello@themarriagegroup.com.

Para clases de preparación matrimonial en español a través de Catholic Marriage y The Marriage Prep Group, llame al (810) 957-1550.

The sacrament of marriage is a visible sign of God’s love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity.

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people with Abraham and later with Moses at Mt. Sinai. This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.

The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. (CCC 1661)

The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. It’s this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. (CCC 1662)

The Church takes the lifelong nature of the Sacrament of Marriage seriously. The Church teaches that a break in this covenant teaches goes against the natural law of God:

The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith. (CCC 1665)

We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God’s image for the purpose of communion with another human being.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 2205). The Sacrament of Marriage is “unitive, indissoluble and calls us to be completely open to fertility.” Christian marriage at its finest is a reflection of God’s self-giving love expressed between the love of two people.