Presider:

The normal presider at our wedding celebrations is a parish priest or deacon. If you desire a visiting priest or deacon, you may arrange it with one of our priests. A letter from your proposed presider is required indicating his commitment to the date and time before your reservation is confirmed. The visiting priest of the archdiocese should then prepare you through normal archdiocesan marriage preparation programs. A priest/deacon from outside Massachusetts must obtain legal permission from the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This should be obtained well in advance of the wedding date. Priests/deacons from outside of the archdiocese must obtain proper delegation from the archdiocese. If either of you is a member of another faith, you may want your clergyperson to participate in the liturgy. If this is the case, please make this known to one of our priests.

Altar Servers: Please make arrangements with the parish office if you wish to have altar servers. If you want a particular server from the parish, please contact the altar server and his/her family directly and then have them inform the parish office.

Lector:

You may choose two readers, one to proclaim the Old Testament passage, and one to proclaim the New Testament reading which you select. (The priest or deacon proclaims the gospel). Liturgical guidelines suggest that each lector you choose: be a practicing Catholic; received the sacrament of Confirmation; has the skills necessary to read and proclaim well. A third person (Catholic or non-Catholic) may be chosen to announce the intentions for the General Intercessions.

Gift Bearers:

You may have two people bring forward the gifts of bread and wine during the preparation of the gifts if you celebrate Mass at your wedding.

Ring Bearers And Flower Girls:

In choosing ring bearers and flower girls, please be realistic in the age of the child(ren) you choose. Young children often are frightened easily. We strongly encourage you to choose children who are well-suited for the task.

Musicians:

It is assumed that you will use our parish staff musicians (organists and cantors) at your wedding. However, it is your responsibility as the marrying couple, to contact the musicians. The use of a trumpeter or other instrumentalists is optional. In all cases, you should consult with the parish music director to finalize the music selections for your wedding. If you wish to have someone other than one of our collaborative parish cantors, you may do so provided that he or he has had previous experience as a Catholic cantor leading sung prayer at Mass. Guest musicians must adhere to liturgical music approved by the parish music director. Please call the parish office at 617.479.5400 to make arrangements with our music ministry staff.