Catholic wedding pamphlets for Non-Catholics

[Laurie_86]

Does anyone know of any good pamphlets that can be included in a Catholic Mass program as an explanation?

My Dh and I helping a couple at church put together a program for their son’s wedding in January. We’ve been enlisted because 90% of the family and friends attending their son’s wedding are Protestant or non-religious similar to how our wedding was in June. They have the great idea of including a pamphlet that can be a short explanation for non-catholic family and friends about the traditions of the Mass since for most of them it will be their first experience with the Church.

They are already spelling out what type of participation people should do during the Mass in the program (when they should sit or stand, what they should say, readings of the Mass, etc.), but a short pamphlet about why the Church holds such traditions would also be helpful. Maybe something with scripture references to the parts of the Mass (Ex: why as Catholics we believe the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ) that people can either read while waiting for the wedding to start or look up after?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[purplesunshine]

You could contact Lifteen hq in Mesa, AZ. They have a ton of publications and great directories. You could also try the Pauline Sisters in MA who publish, Tan books, or Steubenville, OH…I know they have a big book store so they may have nice brocures.

If you’re looking for something really specific, you may be better off hiring a reverant teen to make a tri-fold brocure (most do it in class, so they know how) and you can simply paste in the readings you’d use.

 

[Augusta_Sans]

It sounds like you’re looking for something more elaborate than what I have, but I could email you the program my husband and I used at our wedding if you think it might help. It has very basic explanations throughout the list of events for the Mass, such as:

All stand to express our readiness to follow the teachings contained in our Savior’s words.

With the right thumb, Catholics make the Sign of the Cross on the forehead, lips and heart in silent prayer that each may know the Lord’s teachings, without fear proclaim the truths of our Faith, and live according to the precepts of the Gospel.

and

Catholics may take Communion. Those not taking Communion may remain kneeling or seated.

The Protestants at our wedding thanked me for including these cues throughout the program so they didn’t feel silly standing at the wrong time, and knew what to do while everyone else knelt and took Communion.

 

[BrokenFortress]

Oh, I’d be interested in something like this as well. Me and my fiance are getting married next September and my family are all Protestant, and have never really stepped foot into a Catholic Church. Having explanations in there would really help!

Augusta may I please see your brochure?

 

[Augusta_Sans]

Of course! Send me a PM with your email address and I’ll send it to you. I tried to paste it here, but it really needs the formatting to make sense.

 

[Kindness]

When we were married I was the only Catholic and virtually only practicing Christian in my extended family. We didn’t want my family and friends who were not Catholic to feel lost, embarrassed or just bemused by what was happening during the Catholic Mass.

So we created an Order of Service. It was quite a lot of work (for a very kind friend who put it together for us) but it had the whole of the Mass with information such as “all kneel” “all rise” together with the Mass readings and as we had lots of music all the songs with lyrics. Obviously it is still up to the individual if they decide to participate by kneeling or singing but at least they knew what what happening and what to expect to happen next. We didn’t include an actual explanation of the Sacrament of Marriage or Communion but I think that is a good idea too.

On the cover of our Order of Service we had "Welcome to the Wedding of… " with the date and time and a beautiful illustration by a friend. It therefore was a keepsake of the wedding which many family members especially appreciated.

 

[Laurie_86]

Augusta Sans I’d love the program you did too!

BrokenFortress - It really helped my Protestant family at my wedding that we spelled everything out for them. We ended up making our own (which saved a lot of money) because a lot of programs I found online stayed very basic. We received a lot of people on my side of the family who told us later they were concerned about doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, but that the program helped them understand the Mass better. Plus we figured a wedding is a perfect time for evangelization!

Thank you for the ideas they’ve been great so far! I would still like another option that they can purchase because that seems to be what the couple is wanting. My DH went to a wedding where they had pamphlets from EWTN or some other Catholic service, but we can’t find it!