Some of you know this already but we are having the marriage sacrament performed in the Catholic church on Valentines day. It is part of my converting to Catholocism. Since we were married in a Baptist church originally. Now I know it is appropriate to give the Priest/Deacon who performs the service a gift of $. We are not having a full wedding ceremony. Just a 20 min. service with my inlaws and us. We were thinking $50 would be appropriate, what do you think? And I also was wondering exactly why the gift is given? I am not sure what to write in the card.

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

$50 is probably fine...it's really up to you. We were married in the Presbyterian Church and then had our wedding validated in the Catholic Church a few months later. We paid the priest $100 and invited him to our dinner afterwards. He came with us and he was a hoot! We had the best time. I hope the same for you!

On an off note, can Deacon's marry people? I have never heard of that! We don't have a Deacon at our church, so I have experience with them at all.

[quote=Oregano

On an off note, can Deacon's marry people? I have never heard of that! We don't have a Deacon at our church, so I have experience with them at all.[/QUOTE]

Yes, he is a permanent Deacon and they can perform baptismals, marriages,perform burial and funeral services, distribute Holy Communion and preach the homily.

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

I agree with $50. The note could simply be a thank you for being such an important part of your blessed day....or something along those lines.

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we make the donation to the church not to the individual person. never heard of that, sorry. I do know that each church set there own guidelines and costs.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

My uncle is a deacon and he married us. I think the only thing they can't do is perform the consecration (for the non-Catholics that is the blessing on the communion). We didn't have communion for that reason at our wedding, coupled with the fact that my dh isn't Catholic. I believe he could have distributed communion that had been previously consecrated. My uncle also baptized my children.