GIVEN Retreats

We know it is hard to get away – between work, the kids or just life! GIVEN is a day to connect with your spouse and other couples, praise the Lord, be inspired, and come away feeling refreshed.

The day is intended for ALL couples in an exclusive relationship—dating, married or engaged. Most of the talks will focus on marriage and relationships.

Retrouvaille

Is there stress in your marriage? Retrouvaille offers tools needed to rediscover a loving marriage. Tens of thousands of struggling marriages headed for cold, unloving relationships or divorce have successfully overcome their marriage problems by attending the program, which begins with a Weekend Experience that is followed by a series of follow-up sessions to help keep your healing on track and further develop the tools learned.

Convalidation Information

Like other couples in your parish or family, you may be wondering if your marriage is fully recognized by the Catholic Church. Catholic Church law ordinarily requires baptized Roman Catholics to marry before a priest or deacon. Unless they received a “dispensation from canonical form,” Catholics who exchange vows in the presence of ministers from other religious traditions or civil officials are not considered validly married in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

Regardless of what happened in the past, the Catholic Church invites you to bring new meaning to your lives by embracing the vocation of marriage and dedicating your family’s mission to sharing God’s love.

Learn more about convalidation.

If you are interested in exploring convalidation at St. John the Evangelist, please contact the Parish Office at 410-647-4884 for more information.

Annulment Information

While recognizing that with the exchange of marital vows God takes two persons and makes them one flesh, the Church knows that there are times when an element necessary for a valid marriage is missing. If a person claims that something was missing from a marriage to make it invalid, that person has the right to seek the assistance of a tribunal.

Most often the person asking for a declaration of nullity (commonly referred to as an annulment) will be a Catholic or a person who is now seeking to marry a Catholic. Information on the annulment process can be obtained from the Archdiocesan website or by calling the Marriage Tribunal office. For a quick intro to the subject, and to avoid much misinformation, read 12 Myths about Marriage Annulments in the Catholic Church.