St. Catherines of Sienna

I am a parishoner at St. catherine's of Sienna. Fr. Ed is great and so is Fr. Dennis. he is so funny... he has a bit of a dry sense of humor, but he is a sweet man. Fr. Jimmy is a very nice man as well. Honestly, i love all the priests there.

However, NO Catohlic priest or deacon, at St. Catherine's or elsewhere, will marry you at a reception hall. they are not allowed to. For your marriage to be recognized by the Church as a Sacrament for you and/or DH, is that it must be physically IN the Church in the presence of the parish community and the Blessed Sacrament.

The ONLY exception to this is if it an inter-faith marriage. Ideally a rabbi or whoever else (pastor, shaman, etc.) would come into the church, but in the event that the other faith's clergy will not do that, then and only then, can you get married at the hall. you also have to do inter-faith Pre-Cana and there is paperwork that must be filled out to allow this to happen. This must be done in coordination with the priest from St. Catherine's or whatever church is your parish.

If you and your DH are both catholic (or if one of you is catholic and the other another denomination of Christianity) a Catholic priest or deacon will NOT marry you at the hall. if you find one, it's one of those 'rent-a-priests' that have been defrocked and your marriage will not be recognized by the Church.

HTH!!!

My grandmother used to help out in the parish a lot before she moved up to Albany a few years ago. She's very good friends with Father Dennis, I've met him on a few ocassions and I can tell you he's a very nice man.. funny too. As far as Father Ed, I think I've met him but I can't place a face with the name. If I speak with my grandmother soon I'll ask about him.

I may or may not get married at St. Catherines. I still have no made the choice of using a church or being married at the hall.

I should probably contact the church to find out about weddings so I can make a decision soon.