Catholic Wedding Programs- What is this stuff??

Are you having a Catholic ceremony?

Is your FH Catholic? Or could you ask the priest who is doing your ceremony?

I'm assuming your FH is Catholic and you're having a Catholic ceremony? This is something that you two should choose together, perhaps with the guidance of the priest who will be marrying you and the church's music ministry.

ETA: If you're having a Catholic ceremony, I'd recommend attending Mass at least once or twice before the ceremony. Even if you're having just the shorter ceremony (the Liturgy of the Word only) and not the full Mass, I think it would be helpful for you to feel familiar with the general flow of the service before your wedding. All of the stuff you listed above will make a little more sense once you've seen it in action.

Those first 2 things are typically one-line, sung responses as part of the Mass. The Gospel verse is the 3rd reading, as part of a Mass. If you're not familiar with the order of a Catholic ceremony/Mass, can your FH and priest/deacon help select those things?

My church gave me a book of choices for each of these. Did you get anything like that?

Our priest gave us a book called "Together for Life" by Joseph M Champlin. I am not Catholic but FH is, and it has been really helpful for both of us and allowed us to pick from a variety of readings, blessings, ect. If you don't have it, I would really recommend it.

Our church also gave us a book with the readings to pick out. Any music (like the responsorial psalm) are picked from a list as well with the music director.

Talk to your priest. Some of this may be dictated by the lexionary (the church organization of scripture based on the date and the church year....Matthew Mark and Luke have their own; John kinda floats....) When I get my assignments to preach, there is always a psalm of the week, specific scripture to be read,

Yes, Catholic ceremony. He's Catholic.

FH is in panic attack mode bc he procrastinated and now has 1000 things to do in 9 days.

This is on me now and I need to print them tomorrow.

When is your wedding? I didn't have a Catholic wedding but helped a friend plan her Catholic wedding. The priest gave them a list of choices for every thing they were responsible for choosing (in her case it was the first reading and the second reading. The things you listed are typically chosen by the priest so you would need him to tell you those things (during meetings prior to the wedding). At every Catholic wedding I've attended the priest states what the responsorial Psalm and the Gospal acclimation are, further none of the Catholic weddings I have been to even had programs. As Loganna mentioned, I would suggest attending a Catholic Mass so you understand what those items are and how people participate during Catholic services.

If your wedding is in 9 days, likely the responsorial psalm and the Gospel reading should have either already been decided or the church may have decided for you. For example, if I don't coordinate with my church's music minister what we want before the 1 month out mark, they'll just choose the music for me. I'd double check with FH, your priest, and the church to make sure you won't be printing the wrong thing in your programs!

The Gospel acclamation is set - it's just the "alleluia" before the Gospel is reading. The responsorial psalm and Gospel readings, you and your fiance get to pick for a nuptial Mass or Rite of Marriage in most forms of the liturgy. Most churches let the couple pick those anyway. There are set choices though.

Call the church to verify what their procedure is and if you're allowed to pick your own (most allow you to, unless your wedding is part of a normally scheduled Mass). Here are the available options most use: http://www.foryourmarriage.org/catholic-marriage/planning-a-catholic-wedding/readings/ The links are on the left for the different parts.

Wedding is 8/27/16

We met with the priest a couple weeks ago and he didn't mention any of this. It was our first and only meeting with him. He asked us how we met and we just chatted, then did some paperwork. The coordinator at the Church didn't mention this either, but I noticed today that it is part of the ceremony (based on their online template for programs).

I really don't care what they are...hate to say it, but at this point it just needs to get done. FH is indifferent too. We picked our readings and songs, I thought that's all we needed...those were more important to us.

Okay, thanks...sorry I'm kind of in panic mode too since this was dropped on me at the last min.

I will check with the Church.

I know how you feel I'm Catholic but we are having a Lutheran wedding but I was provided a list of common readings. I found this http://catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/readings-rite.htm

If you've picked reading and songs and didn't pick a responsorial psalm or the Gospel reading, I'd imagine that means those are chosen for you. Worst case scenario, you could leave the details out of the program. For example, for the responsorial psalm, this is usually lead by the cantor and repeated by the congregation, so a simple "Responsorial Psalm", perhaps with simple instructions like "repeat the refrain after each verse" would suffice. For the Gospel acclaimation, a similar "please repeat acclaimation after cantor" or something would work. Since the Gospel reading is performed by your priest, just listing "Gospel Reading" or something similar in your program would be enough as a minimum.

ETA: Obviously the more details the better for a Catholic service if you want people to participate/not be bored, but worst case scenario, you should still be able to get your programs figured out in time. Good luck!

FH has mainly been in touch with all things Church related, I just helped with a few things here and there and have focused on vendors and reception stuff.

Nope, we didn't meet with anyone. They contacted us pretty late, so we couldn't schedule a time to meet. We had a phonecall yesterday and went over the "coordinator form" and everything seemed fine. Today I'm pulling the program together and I saw some of these holes.