Marriage is a sacred calling, about God and serving God’s purposes. It's a vocation just as the priesthood of a priest is a vocation. Marriage is a covenant relationship wherein a man and a woman establish themselves in a partnership for life. God is present in this relationship to bless, assist and guide you.
This relationship is ordered for the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children. Through Matrimony, God raises up the “Domestic Church” where faith is planted in the hearts of children and radiated to the surrounding world.
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What Deanery is this Parish a part of?
Central Coast Deanery St. Ann Parish, Lizana Our Lady of Chartres St. James Parish, Gulfport St. John the Evangelist, Gulfport St. Joseph Parish, Gulfport St. Therese of Lisieux Parish, Gulfport St. Thomas the Apostle, Long Beach |
East Central Coast Deanery Blessed Francis Seelos Our Mother of Sorrows Parishes, Biloxi Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, Biloxi Our Lady of Fatima, Biloxi Sacred Heart, D'Iberville St. Mary Parish, Woolmarket St. Michael Parish, Biloxi Vietnamese Martyrs, Biloxi |
East Coast Deanery Holy Spirit Parish, Vancleave Christ the King Mission, Latimer Our Lady of Victories, Pascagoula Sacred Heart, Pascagoula St. Alphonsus, Ocean Springs St. Elizabeth Seton, Ocean Springs St. Joseph the Worker, Moss Point St. Ann Mission, Hurley St. Mary Parish, Gautier St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Pascagoula |
Northern Deanery Holy Rosary, Hattiesburg Holy Trinity Parish, Columbia St. Paul the Apostle Mission, Tylertown Immaculate Conception Parish, Laurel St. Bernadette, Waynesboro and Holy Trinity, Leakesville Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Lumberton St. Joseph Mission, Poplarville Sacred Heart, Hattiesburg St. Fabian, Hattiesburg St. Francis Xavier, Wiggins St. Lucy, Lucedale St. Peter Parish, Bassfield St. Lawrence Mission, Monticello St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Hattiesburg |
West Coast Deanery Annunciation Parish, Kiln Holy Family, Pass Christian Most Holy Trinity, Pass Christian Our Lady of the Gulf, Bay St. Louis Our Mother of Mercy, Pass Christian Sacred Heart, Dedeaux St. Ann, Bay St. Louis St. Charles Borromeo, Picayune St. Clare, Waveland St. Matthew the Apostle Parish, White Cypress St. Rose de Lima, Bay St. Louis |
Military Our Lady of the Rosary, Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi St. Joseph the Worker, Seabee Base, Gulfport |
Deacon Norm Cantrelle | Deacon Jerry Dubuisson |
ncantrelle@biloxidiocese.org | jdubuisson@biloxidiocese.org |
Northern West Coast |
Central Coast |
Why Prepare: The marriage formation process is to assure that you are free to marry, have the capacity to marry and the right intention to marry. Further the formation process provides assistance in your final months of discernment of the sacramental bond where you will promise to be faithful “for better or for worse” and to love and honor each other every day of your life.
What to Expect during Marriage Formation: “Immediate Preparation” for marriage should begin six to nine months ahead of the anticipated date of your wedding. The process begins with an initial meeting/s with a Priest or Deacon, followed by four educational steps and concludes with a final meeting with the Priest or Deacon just prior to the ceremony. These pastoral and educational steps are listed and described below.
Learn More Locations
Catholic Engaged Encounter offers Premarital Retreats all over the United States.
Check out locations, to find a Retreat with dates that work for you and your future spouse.
This could be a Deacon, lay Person, or the Priest at your parish. Most Parishes use FOCCUS for this meeting. Find out more about the initial inventory of your marriage in the couples guide
Couples Guide
This is also the time to set up your couple sponsor and find out what couple sponsor program will work best for you and your future spouse.
For Better & For Ever, A Resource for Couples Preparing for Christian Marriage.
In using For Better & For Ever, sponsor couples are trained to meet the engaged “where they are” as the starting point for dialogue about the vocation of Matrimony. Used by most parishes in the Diocese.
Better Together.
Better Together is a video-based sponsor couple program consisting of 12 components administered in 6 sessions.
Beloved, Finding Happiness in Marriage.
Run by Augustine Institute. Currently 2 parishes use Beloved; St Alphonsus, Ocean Springs and Sacred Heart, Pascagoula.
Unveiled: Marriage Prep Anytime, Anywhere.
The preferred online/ DVD Sponsor Couple Program for the Diocese of Biloxi when an engaged couple is separated by distance is Unveiled: Marriage Prep Anytime, Anywhere
The Catholic Church supports the methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) because they respect God's design for married love. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy. When learning about NFP, it is important to know that:
Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid conception. These methods are based on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Some natural methods include use of fertility monitors to better understand the time of the wife's fertility. Married couples using NFP to postpone conception abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the wife's cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy. Married couples who use NFP to attempt a pregnancy, make use of the fertile window--the optimum time when conception is likely.
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