Just like you would never expect to be married by a justice of the peace without providing some legal documentation that proves who you are and that you are legally free to be married, the Catholic Church has similar requirements that ask you to also prove that you are sacramentally free to be married.
People are often surprised to learn that the Catholic Church is a stickler for record-keeping. This isn’t just St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church—it’s all the Catholic Church. More and more, legal entities such as the court system rely on Church records to help verify and establish people’s identities. So we must be very careful in our record keeping; your cooperation with this is vital.
Here is a list of documents required when preparing for marriage. They are placed in your marriage record and are kept on file permanently at the church. If you are preparing for marriage at St. Paul the Apostle but plan to have the actual ceremony at another Catholic church, these documents are placed in your file and then forwarded by Fr. Wencil to the pastor at the Catholic church where you plan to be married.