Clarissa and Zachary

Almost guaranteed, selecting a church will be the easiest step in our wedding preparations. I have been a parishioner at St. Joseph the Worker my entire life, and Clarissa has been a parishioner since fourth grade when her family moved here. After Clarissa and I graduated from eighth grade at St. Raphael’s School, Sunday Mass at St. Joseph the Worker was when we saw each other most often. We simply cannot imagine getting married anywhere else.

Whenever my family arrived at Mass, the first thing they would do is try to point out Clarissa for me if she and her family were there, too. I was always excited she was there, and I looked forward to talking to her when Mass was over. After Mass, I would go find Clarissa, and we would talk until our families decided it was time to leave. After Clarissa and I started dating, I was amused to learn that Clarissa’s family did much the same thing. When they got to the church, they would also look around trying to find me in the pews. I also learned that Clarissa shared the same excitement when she found me in church on a Sunday. After we started dating, our families started sitting together on Sunday when we went to the same Mass. One pew was taken up by Clarissa’s family, then Clarissa, then me, and then my family.